The Manifestation of Dark Tails
by J.W.H. 10
Summary: Tails tries to rid himself off the darkness inside of him. Instead, it backfires and he becomes Dark Tails. Now, the dark fox roams the streets, consumed by rage, hatred, revenge and bloodlust.
1. Darkness

**A/N: I just felt that I should get this story out there. Unlike what I usually write, it's not M rated. I hope you enjoy**

 **THE MANIFESTATION OF DARK TAILS**

Darkness.

He could feel it spreading inside him, slowly consuming him. He knew what the costs were, if he let it consume him fully. He would hurt. And he would kill those closest to him. Now how long before that moment would come?

That is what Tails felt as he sat in his living room. He was hunched over his chair, breathing heavily through his nose, trying desperately to suppress the dark energy in his body. It was a slow battle he would always eventually win. But not tonight. Tonight, it just would not let up.

Knuckles had told him that he should never let dark energy build up inside your body to dangerous levels, lest you want your dark side to come out. Tails had always kept his in check. He was told that the dark energy is fueled by anger, most especially anger that has been held in. Tails could not remember feeling angry at someone that long. Or could he?

 **-*- FLASHBACK -*-**

Eight year old Tails was brutally pushed to the ground, his clothes getting stained in the mud. He looked up with pleading eyes at the Mobian lion that just pushed him down.

"Look at you, Miles. A complete freak! What kind of Mobian has two tails?" He hissed.

"Why are you doing this? I'm not bothering anyone!" The fox pleaded. He only got backhanded to the cheek in response.

"You're bothering us!" a hyena snarled. "What's with you, huh? You trying to infect us with your mutant DNA?"

Tails tried to get up, only to be pushed down again. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes but he had to be strong. He could not let these bullies see him break.

"Look at him. He's gonna cry." A Mobian otter taunted.

The lion hoisted Tails up by his shirt. "Freaks like you don't belong in this world. Even the circus is too good for you!" He threw him back in the puddle and walked away, accompanied by his two laughing friends.

Tails picked himself up from the mud. His eyes looked up, straight at the receding backs of the bullies. He could feel his hands slowly clenching into fists in the mud. His hurting feeling slowly gave into a feeling that was mostly rare to him: rage.

 **-O-O-**

Tails collapsed from his chair, his fangs bared and clamped together. He rubbed his hand over his head and took deep calming breaths. He needed to relax. Maybe something a little classic music can take care of. He grabbed the remote for his theatre system and turned on the stereo.

A relaxing classic melody started to play and Tails could already feel himself relaxing. His breathing returned to normal and for the first time that night, a smile graced his face.

That all changed when the song ended and in its place, a sad, romantic song began to play **(think of the lyrics yourself).** It only served to remind him of his own tragic romantic life.

 **-*- FLASHBACK -*-**

Fifteen year old Tails was feeling pretty good tonight. It was date night and he was on his merry way to pick up his girlfriend. He had it all planned out, in the usual cliché: dinner, a movie, hanging out at his house.

He soon arrived at Leena's apartment and walked the short flight of steps to her door. Initially, he had thought of knocking but then a thought crossed his mind and he decided to surprise her. He tried the knob, fortunate to discover that it was unlocked and ventured inside. A short hallway led him straight to the living room.

But now, what he saw in the living room quickly made him wish he had knocked. Or better yet, should not have come at all.

His girlfriend, Leena currently had her lips locked with a leopard; she was a pooch. That fortuitous moment instantly had Tails' heart shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Hey, Leena, who is this chump?" The leopard asked impassively.

"Um… he's… he's nobody. Just some stalker, I think." Leena replied.

OK, to say Tails' heart was broken would be an understatement. It was ground into powder.

"Leena… why? How could you?" Tails sobbed, his eyes already starting to water.

"Wait, Leena, you're dating this dude?" The leopard asked incredulously. Then he burst into laughter. "Look at him! What's with the two tails? You like your men freaky? You into the freaky shit?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Leonard, I told you. He's probably just a stalker. Who needs to _leave_ before I call the police." Leena reached for her phone.

Tails did not have to be told twice. He ran out of the apartment and into the hallway. It was bad enough that she was cheating on him, but she had to act like she does not completely know him. That made him angry, no, it made him so enraged, he burned with the emotion. It felt like a fire and his blood was the gasoline letting it spread, enveloping his whole body…

Tails let out a scream of rage, right there in the building's hallway, a scream so loud, some of the neighbors yelled at him to shut up. A few poked their heads out their doors to see what the deal was.

 **-O-O-**

Tails let out a scream at the memory as he threw his remote straight at the player, stopping the music but also damaging his theatre system. Great. Now he was going to have to fix that. But now the question was: where did he find the strength to throw a remote straight through a DVD player? He looked at his hands and was horrified to see his claws out. He sheathed them back in and once more took deep, relaxing breaths.

When he was sure he was calm, he reclined in his chair and sighed. Leena. She seemed so sweet when they met and even sweeter when they started dating. Who knew she would turn out to be such a bitch? And Tails never set a foot wrong in the relationship to warrant a cheating. Her lame excuse for her actions was that he was nothing but a stalker. And that leopard added more kerosene to the fire when he brought up his two tails and the whole "freak" thing. Now, the very thought of them made him want to…

Tails tried to calm himself down once again as he felt his dark energy acting up again. If music was not going to calm him down, then maybe some late night work might.

Tails walked out of his house and made his way to his workshop/lab. He flicked on the light, illuminating the mess that was his workshop. Various wrenches, metal bars, nuts and bolts littered the floor and the tables were filled with blueprints that he either already worked on or had not even started.

What to do, what to do?

He could always work on his Tornado. That always helped to ease his stress. Tails grabbed a wrench off the floor and flew into the cockpit. He could tweak a few things here and there, maybe the steering system or the targeting system, whichever he fancied. But before he could get to work, he saw a white handkerchief in the seat. It had a kiss mark in the centre and smelled of feminine perfume.

Rouge.

Tails remembered the incident that led to her doing that.

 **-*- FLASHBACK -*-**

"Make sure you keep the Emerald safe, Tails." Sonic instructed as he handed Tails a blue Chaos Emerald.

Tails scoffed. "Sure I can. I won't let anyone take it." Sonic gave him the Emerald and sped off.

Tails trusted the security of his workshop. Unbeknownst to the rest of the gang, he was keeping something very dangerous in his workshop's safe. He considered telling them about it but thought better to keep it a secret for now. If they knew, then somehow the wrong people might also know.

He put the Emerald on one of the tables and decided to get to work on his gadgets. Pretty soon, he was so engrossed in his work, he forgot about the Emerald altogether. After about an hour of working, Tails was exhausted so he decided to curl up on the couch in the workshop and take a short nap.

The sound of a clanging metal woke him. That was when he remembered the Emerald. He quickly rushed to the table he left it on.

It was not there.

"You know, you should really learn to lock your doors." A sultry female voice taunted from the roofs. "Or you might just get robbed blind."

Tails looked up and saw Rouge standing near one of the workshop's higher windows. He flew up to her. "Hand it over." It was pretty clear what he was asking for.

"You forgot the magic word." Rouge teased with mock sweetness.

A growl issued from Tails' throat. "Why do you keep doing this? I thought you had grown out of it."

"Old habits never die." The bat replied. "Besides, I always like teasing my little foxy."

"I'm not little anymore! I'm sixteen!" Tails shouted, losing a huge chunk of his temper.

"Yet you're still cute." Rouge teased.

That was it. Tails lunged at her but she was just too quick for him. She flew out of his way, leaving him to grab at thin air. Tails looked around and saw that she had landed on the ground, casually waiting. He divebombed after her with his hands outstretched but at the last possible second, she flew out of his way. He almost crashed to the floor but stopped himself in time.

"Oh, stop it. You're just so adorable." Rouge giggled.

Tails growled and lunged himself at her again. Rouge merely sidestepped him and grabbed his wrist, twisting it sharply and causing him to flip over on his back. She sat on him to keep him from getting up.

The bat sighed with content. "You know, I really do enjoy our little get togethers." She pulled out the Emerald from her pocket and dangled it tauntingly in front of his face. "And the fruits they bear. But don't worry. You can get something out of it too." She pulled out her handkerchief and kissed it in the centre. Then she pressed that part to Tails' lips. "Mwah." She made a kissind sound.

She got off him and flew out the window. Tails did not even bother to chase after her. He was seething with himself.

 **-O-O-**

That was two hours ago. Rouge should really learn to stop toying with his feelings. The rage he had felt afterwards was surely enough to let his dark side consume him. It had taken him a whole hour to calm himself down again. Now, with those memories at the forefront, the darkness was threatening to burst forth. He suppressed it good but now he knew that he was on the brink of losing control. Soon it was going to consume him.

Unless he could get it out.

Yes, there was a way he could remove the building dark energy inside him. But it was a very dangerous method. Worst case scenario, he might end up vaporizing himself. But the darkness in him was now getting stronger so that was his best and only choice.

Tails went to a section in the wall which looked like any other wall. He pressed his palm on a specific area. A red scanning light passed over his hand and soon, it turned green. The wall dissipated and revealed a safe hidden behind it. Tails placed his hand on a fingerprint scanner and was rewarded with a green light and an approving beep. He typed in the combination and the locks were disabled. The safe opened a crack.

Tails opened the safe the rest of the way and gazed at what it held: a Dark Emerald, gleaming with a purplish-black color.

Dark Emeralds were very different from Chaos Emeralds. In place of chaos energy, they contained dark energy. And unlike Chaos Emeralds, they could hold over five times the regular amount of energy, which meant Dark Emeralds had a lot. As a result, the energy always leaked out and the Emerald appeared to "pulse".

How Tails happened upon it was complete serendipity. In one of his "chaos hunts" as they liked to call them, he had inadvertently calibrated his energy sensors to search for traces of dark energy and not the usual chaos energy. That led him to a cave where he found the Emerald, hidden well under an underground river. When Tails had handled it in his bare hand, he could literally feel the Dark Energy flowing into his body. Another reason why there was Dark energy inside his body now.

That was when Tails realized he could not physically handle the Emerald and had to use protection when doing so. So he kept it inside a glass container. He pulled it out the safe and gazed at the Dark Emerald it held within, suspended in the middle of the glass by metal holders. He could see it pulsing repeatedly, almost having a hypnotic effect on him.

He shook his head and held the casing away from him. He had to get this over with quickly.

Tails carried the Dark Emerald to a machine in his lab and placed it in a compartment. He connected eight small pipes to the corners of the glass box that held the Emerald then moved to the keyboard and typed away.

"Energy siphon ready. Awaiting function." A computerized female voice said. Tails moved from the keyboard to a lever which offered two options. At the top, it read "siphon" and at the bottom, it read "enrich". Tails flipped the lever towards "siphon".

"Function acknowledged. Awaiting host."

Tails pressed "enter" and turned to the machine. Before he could walk, he felt one of his tails snag on something, too frustrated to even turn and look at what it was, he just gave it a hard yank and freed it.

Tails entered into a glass capsule and shut himself inside it. He pressed a red button in the capsule and could feel the machine coming to life.

"Commencing energy enrichment."

Wait. Energy enrichment? He set it at energy siphoning. He looked at the lever and saw, to his horror, the lever had dropped to the "enrich" function.

"Wait! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, abort, abort!" He screamed. But it was too late.

The Dark Emerald pulsed repeatedly as the energy was drained out of it. The pipes connected to its container started to fill with a dark color, the energy travelling through them.

Straight to Tails' capsule.

The fox was desperately pounding on the glass in his panic. He had wanted to siphon the Dark Energy out of him, not enrich himself with more. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Tails was suddenly assaulted by blast after blast of black electricity. The Dark Energy. It was entering him. With every blast, Tails screamed and his struggling lessened more.

The entire workshop filled with the sounds of Tails' screams

 **-O-O-**

"Energy enrichment complete."

There was silence in the lab. Silence in the capsule.

Then a heavy breathing.

A black furred clawed hand reached up, claws unsheathed and scratched at the glass. The fox inside the capsule slowly got to his feet, still breathing heavily. Then he looked at the glass. Baring his fangs and growling savagely, he raised his fist and smashed straight through the glass, shattering it all over the floor.

The fox stepped out of the capsule and looked around, surveying his surroundings. Then he noticed the machine. And the Dark Emerald inside its compartment.

It was no longer purplish black but colorless, the dark energy completely drained out of it.

Into him.

The fox looked down at his hands, once orange furred, now black. The claws were unsheathed and he did not have any reason to put them back in. He grinned.

"Yes…" He breathed. "Yes. Dark Tails… LIVES!"

The fox spun his tails and flew out the workshop window, crashing through it. He had no regard whether he got cut or not. Right now, there was one thing on his mind: revenge.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: Well, I hope you like it. I had this story planned since January and now it feels good to finally get it out. Read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	2. A killing I will go

All was quiet in the chilly night. The only sounds that were heard were the chirping sounds of crickets and other nocturnal critters. And the dark figure flying across the night sky.

Dark Tails flew towards the city, the night lights acting like a beacon, homing him in. the city was as good a place as any to satisfy the murderous urges coursing through him, courtesy of the Dark Energy.

The dark fox landed on the sidewalk and was greeted by a rather disappointing scene: empty streets. There was not a soul in sight. He rolled his eyes at the knowledge of satisfying his bloodlust later.

As Dark Tails slowly walked the empty streets, his sharp ears quickly picked up faint sounds coming from behind him. Clearly whoever it was, was trying to be as quiet as possible. But with his heightened senses, it was practically impossible. The dark fox smirked to himself as he realized the guy's intentions. He was half tempted to just turn around and slice the guy's throat open with his sharp claws. But he restrained himself. He would just play the helpless dummy civilian for now.

Dark Tails turned into an alley and kept on walking forward. He did not need to look back to know that the mugger was still following him. He still kept up his ruse and walked on. That was when other muggers, five in total, excluding the other one, came out of their hiding spots and surrounded the fox. Now he understood why the streets were empty. He had heard of these guys on the news:

The Midnight Slashers.

That was what they called themselves. The police had been after them for nearly two years and got nowhere. Now here they were, presenting themselves to Dark Tails. He licked his fangs in anticipation.

Maybe he was going to satisfy that murderous urge after all.

The leader of The Slashers, a rough looking badger, approached the fox and brandished a knife. "Alright, fox, you know how this works. Hand over your wallet and your valuables and if you cooperate without incident, maybe we'll grant you a quick death."

Dark Tails feigned being scared. "Please, don't hurt me. I'll do whatever you want… please."

The badger only growled and stuck his knife under the dark fox's chin. "Now, you freak."

Dark Tails smiled to himself as he kept up the helpless civilian ruse. He made a move for his pocket, as if he was complying but then withdrew it. "You know… you guys should consider yourselves lucky." He said.

"Really? And why is that?" Another Slasher, a hyena this time, asked, deciding to humor him.

"Because you guys get to be the first people I kill."

Those words had every Midnight Slasher looking at each other incredulously, and then suddenly burst out laughing.

The badger recovered first. "Ooh, I'm so scared." He said in a mocking, high pitched voice. "Look out! He's got two tails! What's he gonna do, hit me with 'em?" He resumed laughing.

Then the hyena stopped laughing altogether. "Alright, fox, you've had your fun." He pulled out his knife. "But now, it's time for us to have ours."

What happened next was too fast for either one of the Midnight Slashers to register in their brains. One second, the hyena was slashing for the fox's chest, the next, the fox suddenly had the tips of his two tails buried in the hyena's abdomen.

The hyena's eyes bulged out of their sockets as the last of his consciousness made him look down, seeing the two tails that impaled him.

Dark Tails pulled his namesakes out of the hyena's abdomen, the tips stained red with blood. He whispered in the dying hyena's ear. "Actually… my fun is just beginning." Then let him fall to the ground in his own blood. The dark fox then turned his now red eyes towards the rest of the stunned Slashers.

The badger recovered first. He pushed a stoat towards the fox. "Come on, get him!"

The stoat pulled out his own knife and stabbed for Dark Tails' heart. The fox merely caught his wrist and squeezed it so hard, he dropped his knife. But Dark Tails kept on squeezing until the stoat could feel his ulna and radius shattering. He gave a pained scream as he felt his wrist get crushed and excruciating pain shoot up his entire arm. Dark Tails then grabbed the stoat's chin and forcefully snapped his head back, breaking his neck in the process and killing him instantly.

Dark Tails let the lifeless body drop to the ground and then turned towards the remaining Midnight Slashers. Gone was his playful side. In its place was raw savagery. A fierce desire to harm, a desire to maim, a desire to kill. He took a step towards the group, who fearfully took two steps back.

The badger, however stood his ground; mostly because he was standing behind them the whole time. "Come on, he's just one fox. Attack him together!" He ordered.

Two of the Slashers' strongest members, a grizzly bear and a tiger, advanced towards Dark Tails, whilst a raccoon tried to flank him. The bear and the tiger then charged at him but Dark Tails simply leaped over them. Then the raccoon pounced on him and tried to pin him down while fumbling for his knife at the same time. The grizzly and tiger quickly moved in to help out, pinning Dark Tails to the ground by his arms. The raccoon finally got his knife out and prepared to slit Dark Tails' throat.

Dark Tails released a deep animalistic growl from his throat. He lifted his left arm, together with the full weight of the grizzly bear holding it down and flung him at his friends, throwing them off him. He sprang to his feet and approached the heap of Slashers, grabbing the ankle of the first animal within reach: the raccoon. The dark fox flung him to a wall like a pillow with so much force that the raccoon felt a few bones snap. Dark Tails then homed in on him and lifted him up by his neck. The raccoon gasped for air as his feet frantically kicked about. He tried to punch the arm, hoping to break the fox's grip but it was like hitting an iron bar; it just would not budge.

As the life faded from the raccoon's eyes, he forced his eyes to look down, straight into the deep red eyes of the dark fox. There was no emotion in them. Only pure rage, an insatiable desire to do harm.

Dark Tails felt the raccoon's struggling become weaker. He decided to end him quickly by squeezing his neck sharply, crushing his spinal column. He dropped the dead raccoon to the ground and then turned to the grizzly and tiger.

They now surely looked shaken. Just one fox had managed to kill half their gang with his bare hands and tails. What's more, he had shown himself to be incredibly strong for his size, able to lift a grizzly with just one hand. But they had to be tough. They would not back down from this fox.

The tiger charged first, knife in one hand while the other had his claws out. Dark Tails merely stood still, not moving a muscle as the tiger pounced…

…only to be caught by his neck whist in mid-air. Dark Tails then brought him down in a violent choke slam that had the tiger's head slammed hard against the concrete ground and his windpipe almost crushed. But Dark Tails did not stop there. He kept on slamming the tiger's head by his neck over and over into the ground until the back of his head was nothing but red mush and his neck looked like a flap of skin thrown over unset bones. He let the now dead tiger go and then turned his attention to the grizzly bear.

The bear was just lamely standing there, his legs shaking like unstable poles supporting a heavy weight. Dark Tails just stood up and looked at him, silently goading him to make the first move. When the bear still did not move, the dark fox then took the initiative himself. He unsheathed his claws and approached the petrified grizzly. He raised his clawed hand and took a swipe, slashing the bear across the chest.

That jolted him out of his frozen state. He howled in pain and his eyes widened at the blood his chest spewed. He tried to raise his blade to defend himself but it was an exercise in futility. Witnessing all his friends singlehandedly killed by one fox was enough to demoralize him.

Dark Tails saw the bear try to use his knife and almost laughed at the pathetic display. He advanced on the bear and delivered a powerful punch to his chest. So powerful, it broke a few ribs and sent them into one of his lungs. The yelled in pain and gasped as he felt the lung fill up with fluid. Dark Tails then smiled, seeing his victim in such pain and discomfort. Clearly all the fight had been knocked out of him.

The dark fox slowly knelt over the grizzly and unsheathed his claws. Then, with vicious swipes, he lacerated the bear's entire upper body, from head to torso. The entire alley was filled with the grizzly's screams of pain. Blood spurted from his wounds, splattering all over Dark Tails' clothes and face, but he did not seem to mind. It was truly an extremely painful way to die.

Once the bear stopped screaming and his blood was all over the place, Dark Tails slowly stood up, his face and shirt covered in blood. That was five dead; one was left. He slowly turned to the remaining Slasher: the leader.

The badger was still standing there, scared out of his wits at what he had just witnessed: Raw, untamed savagery. His legs felt like jelly and there was a wet spot rapidly spreading at the crotch of his pants. With trembling hands, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a revolver. He managed to steady his hand long enough to squeeze out a round.

The bullet hit Dark Tails square in the chest and he stumbled back. The badger did not stop there. He shot round after round into the fox's chest until all six rounds were exhausted and his hand vibrated from the gun's kickbacks. To his complete shock, Dark Tails was still standing, his head stooped. Then he raised it and the badger nearly peed himself a second time at what he saw.

The fox's eyes were glowing a deep red and he had his fangs bared and was growling maliciously. His bullet wounds did not even bleed. Instead, they knitted together and the flesh closed up, as if nothing happened.

The badger dropped his gun and the trembling returned with a vengeance. The dark fox slowly advanced towards him and the badger knew the wise thing to do. He turned tail and ran.

He heard no pursuing footsteps behind him and a sense of relief washed over him. But just as he was about to exit the alley, he felt a kick to his back. It was enough to send him sprawling. Whilst on the ground, he felt a strong hand grab him by the back of the neck and hoist him up only to hurl him at a wall. He struggled to get to his feet but was grabbed by the neck, hoisted up and pinned against the wall. He looked straight into the eyes of the fox, which were still glowing red, his fangs still out. The look was enough to drive him mad.

"Please… please spare me… I… I'll, I'll, I'll give up a life of crime, I'll start over, I'll never hurt an innocent life ever again." The badger whimpered, tears flowing from his eyes.

The pathetic sight nearly made Dark Tails vomit. He leaned in and whispered in the scared badger's ear. "Do I look like I care about innocent lives? I did not do this to put an end to your crime spree." He withdrew his lips from the badger's ear, then looked him dead in the eyes. "I'm doing this simply because I enjoy killing."

Dark Tails then moved his hand from the badger's neck and held him by the chin. He lifted his head up and exposed the neck. The dark fox then raised his other hand and let his claws slide out.

The badger saw what was happening and started to squirm. "No! Please spare me. Please!"

His pleas fell on deaf ears as Dark Tails brought his claws to the badger's neck. He slowly raked them across, opening blood vessels and letting the badger's blood spurt out, all over his face and chest. Dark Tails let his body hang like that, neck open, blood pouring until it receded to a trickle and eventually stopped altogether. He let the body drop and then observed the carnage he had inflicted.

All six members of the Midnight Slashers were lying dead in the alley. Six kills. That was enough to satisfy his bloodlust… for now.

Speaking of blood…

Dark Tails held his shirt out. What was once a blue long sleeved t-shirt was now stained a dark crimson. His jeans were better off but still stained nonetheless. He looked at his hands and saw that they too were covered in blood. He could also feel the blood that splashed on his face drying, sticking his fur together.

"Hmm… I'm gonna need some new clothes. Clothes that can match my dark nature." He said to himself then took to the sky. "Time to go shopping."

 **-O-O-**

All was quiet at the mall. So quiet that the guard, a Mobian owl, had decided to nod off on the job.

A whirring sound, accompanied by footsteps quickly woke him up. He instantly became alert and scanned the surroundings with his sharp eyes. "Who's there?" He tried to sound tough to mask his fear of a confrontation. Deep inside, however, he was as frightened as a naïve infant. His heartbeat doubled and his breathing quickened.

He could see a figure in the darkness. It was in a crouching position but straightened up and walked towards him. When it got close enough, the guard could see that it was just a fox.

"Hey, buddy, the mall is closed. Come back tomorrow."

The fox just kept on walking forward.

"Hey, moron, didn't you hear me? I said the mall's closed." The guard reached for his truncheon.

The fox advanced still, unheeding. Only when he got close to the security lights, could the owl see what a frightening state the fox was in.

His clothes were covered in blood. Some of it even caked his face and hands but it was not as much. His facial fur was wet, as well as his hands, indicating that he had tried to wash some of it off but it was crudely done.

"Oh, my God." The guard exclaimed when he saw the black fox's disheveled state. He was clearly bad news. "Stay back, pal."

The fox kept on coming.

The owl reached for his taser. "I said stay back!"

The fox was now close enough to be engaged. The guard switched on the taser and tried to use it on the fox. Instead, the fox swiped it out of his hands at lightning speed. Then he crushed the weapon in his hand and threw the pieces away.

The guard then resorted to his truncheon; he quickly brought it out and whacked the fox hard across the face, his weapon breaking from the impact. The hit was enough to down a polar bear but the fox was still standing. He slowly brought his head up and faced the guard, who audibly gulped.

The fox's hand then glowed with a red energy. Then, with lightning speed, the hand was raised and a bolt of energy shot out of the fox's hand, hitting the guard square in the chest and sending him flying backwards, into the mall's glass door. It shattered on impact and the guard tumbled into the building.

Dark Tails slowly lowered his hand and entered the mall through the hole he had just created. The alarm had activated as soon as the glass broke and he estimated a ten minute response for the police to get here. Plenty of time for him to get what he wants and be on his way. Of course, if the police were to arrive early, then he would have no choice but to kill his way out. The dark fox smiled at the thought.

He looked down at the body of the guard. His face and arms were lacerated by the glass and his lifeless eyes stared straight up. There were burnt feathers and a smoldering hole in his chest.

Dark Tails simply walked over him and went for the clothes section of the mall. Like any other normal shopper, he browsed the aisles, looking for the right set of clothes to match his dark personality. He figured black attire would do.

He selected a black t-shirt with a large "Death" graphic at the centre. Perfect. It accentuated how deadly he was. For pants, he opted for a black pair of jeans with a wallet chain at the side. He was also going to need a new pair of shoes to go with that. A pair of stylish black sneakers completed the look. But Dark Tails still thought it was missing something: a jacket.

The dark fox chose a black bikers jacket. Now that would definitely send a clear message to all who got in his way: I am Destruction. I am Terror. I am Death.

Satisfied with his choices, Dark Tails went to the changing rooms.

 **-O-O-**

By the time Dark Tails was stepping out of the changing rooms, he could already see flashes of red and blue in the distance, slowly getting brighter with every second. The sound of approaching police cars filled his ears. He had only been in the mall for seven minutes.

"Wow. These cops are real quick in responding to a break-in." He said to himself, with no hint of emotion in his voice.

Although he had recently satisfied his bloodlust by killing the Midnight Slashers, the dark fox could not help but smile at the thought of adding more bodies to that list. Looks like he was not done killing for the night after all.

"This is the Emerald City Police Department. We have you completely surrounded. Come out with your hands up." A cop's voice blared over a megaphone.

 _OK. Let's do this,_ Dark Tails thought to himself. He began to walk towards the door, his hands in the air, feigning surrender.

As much as he would have liked to kill every cop present one by one with his bare hands, he did not want to risk getting his new outfit stained in blood. So he resorted to the quick method. He charged his hands with red energy and then brought them together. He sent out a powerful blast of energy, straight towards a cruiser. It quickly erupted in flames, the explosion sending it airborne and incinerating every cop that was standing near it.

"Open fire!"

The cops did not need to be told at all. They started firing at their own initiative.

Dark Tails felt every round hit him but they barely did anything to him. The Dark Energy in his body also acted as a healing factor, quickly healing every injury he sustained. He was just going to give them the satisfaction of shooting him; until they run out of bullets.

Which was just what happened as each weapon clicked, indicating empty magazines. Dark Tails was not going to give them a chance to reload.

Aiming his hands in opposite directions, he started shooting off energy blasts at every cruiser and cop present. The entire parking lot lit up in flames, the night air permeated with the smell of smoke, burnt flesh and agonized screams.

Dark Tails casually walked through the massacre, looking for any potential survivors. A squirrel, whose legs were on fire, feebly tried to raise his hand at the dark fox, who did not even bat an eye as he shot a blast of energy that blew his head off.

Dark Tails spun his namesakes and took off into the night sky.

To him, this was just the beginning.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: Another chapter down. This has got to be the most graphic chapter I have ever written. Tell me what you think: too violent or just right? You can tell me with a review or PM. Read and enjoy.**

 **~~~***MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!***~~~**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	3. Unknown Emerald, missing Tails

**A/N: Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas. I sure as hell did. Now, it's back to the stories.**

 **Before I start, I would like to reply to a review from Dreadwing 216: I'm not making any promises on the violence. I had already planned on making Dark Tails extremely violent and bloodthirsty. So the graphic violence really brings that part out. I'll see if I can tone it down.**

 **Right, on with the story.**

"Tails? Hey, buddy, you in there?" Sonic called out as he knocked on the door to Tails' house. He checked his watch and saw that it was just after eight. Tails usually woke up at six. Maybe he was working late at night and decided to sleep in. But then again, what Sonic had for Tails was urgent.

"Knuckles said he wants the Emerald I gave you last night. And it can't wait." Sonic knocked on the door again, louder than before. "Hey, Tails!" Still, no reply. Sonic then took out his phone and dialed Tails' home number. The phone rang until it went to voicemail. Sonic then tried his cell; still there was no answer.

The hedgehog sighed and tried the door. It was unlocked and he ventured inside. The house was always clean and orderly, like a boss' office. Tails always liked to keep it that way.

"Tails! Buddy!" Sonic yelled into the house. The only answers he got were his echoes. He went to the living room and found it empty. However, he did find Tails' phone on the coffee table. The notification light was blinking so Sonic switched it on. The notification was just a missed call. From him. He then glanced around the room and the state of the theatre system caught his eye.

A remote was sticking out of the disc slot.

"What the… Did Tails… throw that?" Sonic asked himself, astonished. He was momentarily hit by a wave of panic, thinking a thief had broken in, grappled with Tails and in the struggle, the remote was flung into the DVD player. Of course that was ruled out since nothing of value was missing and the place had no signs of a struggle. And Tails would not be strong enough to throw like that. So where was that two tailed fox?

Sonic went upstairs to Tails' room, calling his name repeatedly. Still no answer. "Where could he—" then he snapped his fingers in realization. "The workshop!"

The blue hedgehog bolted out the house and headed straight for the workshop. The huge door, which was used to let out the Tornado, was hanging ajar. He pushed it open and peered inside.

The workshop completely contrasted with Tails' house: the floor was littered with various bits of metal, bolts, nuts, screwdrivers, wrenches as well as a few papers. Not to mention it was one short of a two tailed fox.

The sound of his own phone ringing startled Sonic. He recovered and took it out of his pocket. "Hello?"

" _What the hell's taking so long?"_ Came an angry voice. It was Knuckles.

Sonic was confused. "What?"

Knuckles growled at the other end. _"Don't tell me you forgot! You said you'd go to Tails' house, get the Emerald and get over here in less than a minute. Now it's been ten and still no Emerald!"_

Sonic rolled his eyes at his friends' impatience. A ten minute wait could hardly make anyone lose patience. "No, I'm at Tails' house right now and he is not here."

" _What?! How could he not be there? Isn't that where he spends most of his time?"_ The echidna paused, then spoke again. _"Did you check the workshop?"_

"What am I, a moron?" Sonic retorted. "I've searched every inch of this place and there's no sign of him."

Knuckles sighed. _"Can you at least find the Emerald?"_

Sonic wanted to rebuke the echidna for sounding so insensitive. Right now, Tails was nowhere to be found and all Knuckles could think about was the Emerald? But he could not jump to conclusions. Maybe Tails just stepped out to buy a few tools, or maybe he just went to work out. Whatever the reason, Sonic was sure nothing tragic happened to his little bro.

"I can look for it. I'm sure it's around here somewhere." He hung up and ventured into the workshop.

"Whoa, the floor sure is crunchy." Sonic mused out loud as he felt his sneakers crunch on what he assumed were pebbles. "Tails should really sweep this—ow!" He flinched and raised his foot as one particular "pebble" had pierced through his sneaker and scratched his foot. Sonic sat on a chair and inspected the underside of his shoe.

It was not a pebble that was lodged in there. It was broken glass.

Sonic glanced to the floor and his eyes widened. The entire floor was littered with broken glass.

"What the…" He exclaimed and looked up. A section of the workshop's skylight was broken through. That would explain the glass littering the floor.

But there was more. In the lab section of the workshop.

Sonic walked to the lab, where Tails usually did his experiments. There was more broken glass at that side but it could not have come from the skylight for it was only on the workshop's side of the roof and not the lab's.

There was a large machine that occupied one section of the wall, its purpose unknown. Sonic saw that it was still on and went to take a look. The machine looked simple enough: there was a keyboard and a monitor, as well as a lever that had two functions: "enrich" and "siphon". The lever was dropped to the "enrich" function. There was also a large Mobian sized capsule at the far end of the machine. That was where the broken glass came from.

The monitor had three words flashing on the screen: _"ENERGY ENRICHMENT COMPLETE."_

"Was Tails experimenting with something? Or… someone?" Sonic asked himself. Tails never explained the purpose of this machine. Then again, Tails never explained _anything_ that he did in his lab. He always kept that private. Sonic could just remember that day:

 **-*- FLASHBACK -*-**

"Hey, Tails, we're going to watch that movie that just came out. Wanna come?" Sonic asked as he came charging into the lab. He saw the two tailed fox hunched over some weird looking machine, tightening a nut.

Tails dropped his wrench, startled out of his mind. He recovered when he noticed his friend. "Don't do that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Sonic scoffed. "You're sixteen, not sixty. Now come on! The movie starts in an hour!"

Tails picked up his wrench and returned to the machine. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"I see. What you working on?" Sonic asked, getting closer to the device.

Tails stood up and blocked the way. "This is none of your concern, Sonic!" He wielded the wrench threateningly.

Sonic backed away. "Alright, alright, man. Jeez."

Tails, however, did not stop there. He ushered the hedgehog out. "My experiments are none of your business. So I suggest you get out." he pushed Sonic out the door, then shut and locked it.

"Are you at least coming to the movie?" Sonic hollered.

"NO!"

"Man, what's his problem?" The hedgehog pondered before speeding away.

 **-O-O-**

Of course, Sonic's conclusion then was that Tails was still not over Leena. After she broke up with him, Tails started keeping to himself a lot, always staying in his workshop, refusing to socialize and started doing things by himself. It became rare to see him happy and even rarer to see him with friends.

That was one of the reasons why Sonic did not know the function of the machine. Still, he decided to take a closer look at it.

He noticed a compartment which held something inside. It was something shiny. He ejected it to take a closer look. His eyes widened at what it was.

Sonic took out his phone and dialed Knuckles' number. He picked up after the first ring.

" _Well, do you have it?"_ The echidna asked, getting straight to the point.

Sonic was at a loss of what to say. "Uh… well… let's just say I _found_ an Emerald."

 **-O-O-**

"Um… what exactly are we looking at here?" Knuckles asked with a bemused expression on his face.

"I don't know. Some kind of Chaos Emerald, I think." Sonic replied, throwing his hands in the air.

"Aren't Chaos Emeralds supposed to have color?" Amy asked the rhetorical question.

Knuckles picked up the colorless Emerald and examined it. He then held it in his hand and tried to enclose it with a fist. "No. It's too big to be a Chaos Emerald."

"Then what kind of Emerald is it, Mr. Emerald Master?" Sonic asked in a mocking tone.

Knuckles rolled his eyes but kept his temper. "I don't know. I'll go check it out once I take it to Angel Island."

"You know, the bigger question is: what was Tails doing with that Emerald in the first place?" Amy asked the two.

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know. He had it in this machine which he would not tell me its purpose."

"Well, whatever Emerald it is, all its energy has been drained out. That explains the colorless appearance." Knuckles stated.

"Drained into what, I wonder?" Amy mused, staring out into space.

"Whatever it was that Tails was experimenting on. Or _whoever_ it was." Sonic shuddered at that last part. The very thought of Tails goading someone into being a guinea pig for his experiments made Sonic uncomfortable. But this was Tails he was thinking about. As far as he was concerned, the young fox would never do anything that would question his morality.

"I'm gonna go to Angel Island and have this Emerald analyzed." Knuckles announced and then left the house, which served as their hangout, leaving the two hedgehogs alone.

The silence eventually got awkward. Amy decided to break it. "So, Sonic…"

She did not get far, for Sonic's phone rang. He hastily answered, not bothering to check the caller ID. "Did you find out what Emerald it was, Knucks?"

" _Knucks? What are you talking about?"_ The other voice asked in confusion.

Sonic instantly knew who it was. "Oh, hi, Kevin! Sorry, I thought you were somebody else."

" _Yeah, I got that."_ Kevin chuckled.

Kevin was a detective at the Emerald City Police Department. He was a Mobian wolf and one of the gang's friends who did not partake in their adventures.

"So, what's up?" Asked Sonic.

" _Are you closer to a TV?"_

"Yeah. Is something wrong?" There was a small flat screen TV in the house and Sonic quickly switched it on.

" _You might wanna check the news."_

"OK. What channel?"

" _Any news channel."_

Sonic flipped to the nearest news channel.

"… _no one knows who or what did it but the bodies of the notorious murderous gang known as the Midnight Slashers were found dead in an alley, they're bodies savagely mauled."_

The screen then changed and displayed photos of the bodies of said gang, probably taken by early risers who had the chance to do so before the police arrived. Amy gasped in shock and covered her mouth while Sonic's eyes widened as he tried not to lose his food. Maybe someone else did.

"Who could have done that?" Amy whispered. She still had not recovered from her shock.

"I don't know." Sonic answered. Then he remembered that he still had Kevin on the line. "So? The Midnight Slashers are dead. Isn't that a good thing?"

" _No it's not! That means we have an even more violent murderer out there and it's gonna be my job to bring them in."_

"Or maybe it's a vigilante." Sonic lamely threw in.

" _Yeah, right. Look, I have to get to work now. I'll get back to you later."_ Kevin then hung up.

The screen then cut back to the female falcon reporter. _"The citizens of Emerald City have had a rather mixed reaction towards the Slashers' deaths."_

The shot cut back to the scene of the crime, which now had police tape surrounding the area and police cruisers and news vans all over the place. A few Mobians were getting interviewed, giving out their different reactions to the discovery:

" _I don't know if I should be happy that the Midnight Slashers are dead or scared that there's an even nastier killer out there."_ This from an otter.

" _I say they got their just reward! I lost a cousin to those bastards!"_ A fat bear commented vehemently.

" _I don't like it. Whoever did this clearly thinks they're above the law. Leave it to the cops, buddy!"_ A swallow shook his finger at the camera.

" _I just want to say 'thank you' to whoever had the guts to stand up to those ruffians."_ An elderly stoat said.

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails watched the news with a satisfied smirk on his face. Watching his murderous exploits displayed for the public to see was an added bonus to his heinous actions, a cherry on top of his ice-cream.

" _I don't know if I should be happy that the Midnight Slashers are dead or scared that there's an even nastier killer out there."_

Dark Tails smirked. "You should be scared. I'm way worse than any killer you'll ever come across."

" _I say they got their just reward! I lost a cousin to those bastards!"_

"Really? I might do you a favor and reunite you with him." The dark fox snickered.

" _I don't like it. Whoever did this clearly thinks they're above the law. Leave it to the cops, buddy!"_

"That's very ungrateful." Dark Tails feigned dejection. He had half a mind to hunt that guy down and snap his neck.

" _I just want to say 'thank you' to whoever had the guts to stand up to those ruffians."_

That statement made the dark fox laugh. "Trust me, madam. You'll be eating those words."

The dark fox lazily flopped down on the couch. He surveyed the surroundings of the apartment he had just broken into. There were fitness magazines all over the coffee table as well as weights of various sizes in the corner. A treadmill, a punching bag and posters of muscular Mobians completed the room. Clearly the apartment belonged to a gym enthusiast, instructor or someone who just wanted to lose weight.

Of course none of that concerned Dark Tails. He had broken into the apartment for the sole purpose of feeding himself. The freezer was packed with various types of meat, all of which would abate his hunger. The meats were frozen so he heated them up with his energy but scarfed them down raw. He had no interset to cook himself a proper meal.

After last night's killing spree, Dark Tails found himself still craving more. But first, he had a plan of revenge in his mind. All those Mobians who had wronged him in the past had to pay. With their lives.

Dark Tails took a paper and pen and then dug through his memories, remembering their names. "First, I'll start with those three bullies. The lion, Carl Larson. That hyena, Henry Gray. And that otter, William Young."

Dark Tails wrote their names down on the paper. "And let's not forget the rose with thorns." He wrote down the name and encircled it. He grinned at the paper and gazed at it to the point of almost drooling. "That's right, Leena Ashley. When I'm done with those three, I'm coming for you!"

At first her name was something that made his heart skip a beat. Now, it was a name that made him snarl. Just the thought of hearing it fueled his rage. His eyes glowed and a growl issued from his throat. He needed an outlet.

As if his wishes were instantly granted, the door to the apartment swung open and in walked a very muscular tiger. He was wearing a headband, bear muscle, shorts and running sneakers. He also had on a pair of fingerless gloves. He eyed the dark fox in his apartment with malice.

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment?!" He thundered.

Dark Tails did not answer him. He simply folded up the paper of the names and tucked it into his pants pocket. Then he slowly got up and walked towards the tiger

The enraged tiger glanced at the coffee table, where he could see half eaten pieces of meat. "You break into my apartment, mess with my fridge—oh, that's it. You've gotten on my bad side, fox." He reached behind his door and whipped out a wooden baseball bat. "You know what happens to dudes who get on my bad side? They get six weeks of intensive care."

Dark Tails kept on walking towards the tiger, his face expressionless. The tiger was a bit taken aback by his foolish boldness. Did he really think he stood a chance against 220Ibs of raw muscle? He was just going to learn the hard way.

When the fox was close enough, the tiger swung the bat at Dark Tails' head. To his utter surprise, the fox caught it as if it was nothing. Dark Tails then lifted both bat and batter and spun around, making the tiger let go the bat and sent him crashing into a nearby wall. The dark fox then broke the bat in half as if it were a twig and then approached the tiger.

The tiger quickly sprang to his feet and threw a punch. Dark Tails merely caught the fist and squeezed it sharply. The tiger yowled as he felt every bone in his hand break and the pain forced him to his knees. He then felt a hand on his neck hoist him up. Dark Tails raised the tiger as high as his arm could go until he was looking up into his swelling eyes.

"Do you know what happens to dudes who get on _my_ bad side?" Dark Tails asked, trying to be ironic. Except he was nothing but menacing. As was his voice as he finished. "They don't live to tell the tale."

The apartment filled with a sickening crunch as the tiger's neck was shattered.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: Well, this was longer than I expected but I hope you still like it. Please read and enjoy. Next chapter next year.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	4. Seek and kill

**A/N: Before I start, a reply to caseycheese: I'll try to make it more edgy. And I'm just three chapters into the story so more characters will be introduced further in (only to die ;D)**

 **OK, back to the story.**

Dark Tails walked through the streets of Emerald City, blending in with the crowd as if he were just any other Mobian. But deep down –or in this case, on the outside- he was a raging, bloodthirsty monster, just itching to grab the nearest person closest to him and rip them limb from limb. But the dark fox kept himself calm, in spite of those urges. The time to strike and kill to his heart's content would come.

Everyone who walked past him hardly spared him a glance. To them, he was just a Gothic looking fox. Maybe they did not yet watch or read the news because what he did last night was surely front page material. Every news channel would be talking about it for the whole morning. Or maybe they did and already knew what he was capable of and so were doing their best to avoid him.

He passed by a police cruiser and the cops paid him no mind. Clearly these cops had no idea of his exploits the previous night, which meant he was in the clear. For now. Of course, police were of little consequence to him. He would simply kill them if he wanted to. But now, he had to focus on the main task at hand.

He had a plan to get back at all those who had wronged him. Starting with those bullies and Leena. He had to find out their respective places of work, where they lived, anything that would help him find them. Of course, that meant that he needed a computer with unlimited internet access.

That was what brought Dark Tails to a computer bureau **(whatever the hell they call those places)**. He entered the building and looked around. Almost every computer had an occupant. He casually walked up to a vacant computer and sat himself down. An employee of the bureau quickly made his way to the dark fox. He was a Mobian beaver.

"Hi, and welcome to Compu-Fi. Do you need any assistance in getting started?" He smiled, showing off his huge teeth that Dark Tails was just aching to punch out. But he restrained himself.

"I know how to work a computer, Buck-Tooth. So beat it." Dark Tails snarled.

The beaver's smile quickly evaporated but then it returned, albeit without its initial authenticity. "Right. OK then, just let me know if you need anything."

"Yeah. Get me a pen and a notepad." The dark fox rudely demanded.

The beaver slunk away, clearly taken aback by his rudeness, leaving Dark Tails alone. He then rubbed his hands together, with the fingerless gloves he stole from the gym tiger he had killed and cracked his knuckles. He booted up the computer and went straight to the net.

"Alright then. Let's get to work."

In order to find the Mobians he was looking for, Dark Tails needed to access the city's database. He knew he could find them in the system if they still lived and were employed in the city.

With his vast knowledge of computers and high IQ, Dark Tails typed away, easily breaching the firewalls as a bullet would go through paper. Due to the sensitivity of the information the firewalls protected, they were meant to be the strongest there was. But to Dark Tails with his intelligence, any firewall was a novice to him. He also knew that if City Hall were looking at their computers, then they would have instantly been alerted of his actions as soon as he breached the first firewall. They would track down his position and alert the police to his location. He had to act fast.

Dark Tails breached the last firewall and a loading bar appeared on the screen. He was almost in. That was also the time when the beaver returned with the pen and notepad.

"Here are the items you requested, sir." He said, still flashing his bucktooth smile.

Dark Tails snatched the items from the beaver's hands and did not utter so much as a "thank you" as his eyes returned to the screen. The beaver stole a glance but of course, all he could see was a loading bar. The dark fox looked up at him when he still lingered. "That will be all, Bucky." He growled.

The beaver wasted no time walking away. "Asshole." He muttered under his breath.

Dark Tails still heard him though and he silently growled. The thought of shooting him with bolts of energy and blasting him into smithereens was tempting but he squashed it. He had to focus. He turned back to the screen and saw that the loading bar was just hitting 100%. He was in.

The screen displayed a list of various names, over 800,000 in all. Good thing there was a search engine that saved him the trouble of scrolling through random names. He pulled out the piece of paper which he wrote the names on and typed in the name "William Young" then he clicked "search."

The list quickly thinned out and displayed just he one name. With a grin, Dark Tails clicked it and all the information was displayed. He skimmed through the irrelevant and came up on his place of work. "So William works the night shift at the docks. That's pathetic." He wrote down the name and the place of work in the notepad. Just to cover any loopholes, he also wrote down William's home address. Satisfied, he searched his next name: Henry Gray.

The hyena was different. Apparently, he had a criminal record. _Typical,_ Dark Tails thought. _You were a bully before and you went further into a life of crime_. Most of Henry's crimes were involving drug possession, so it was easy for Dark Tails to figure out his business: drug dealer.

Of course, that meant he had no address indicated. So that would make finding him a challenge. But Dark Tails always welcomed a good challenge. It was one of the thrills of hunting someone down: the hunt itself. And when he caught Henry, the dark fox was going to relish ending his life. On the bright side, he would be doing the world a favour, getting rid of a drug dealer. Dark Tails almost laughed at the irony.

Dark Tails scribbled down Henry Gray's details and then searched for his next target: Carl Larson.

Of all the former bullies, Carl actually did well for himself in his adult life. He was a successful salesman and was living a life of luxury at one of the upper class suburbs of the city. The very knowledge of that made Dark Tails clench his fist in rage. With Carl's troublesome past, he would think karma would get back at him. Then again, he did not believe in karma.

But of course, he was going to inflict his own version of justice: _When I kill him._

Dark Tails happily wrote down the name and address. Then, with a grin and a second crack of the knuckles, he typed in the one name that brought him joy on two levels: the girl he fell in love with and the girl he was going to enjoy killing the most:

Leena Ashley.

Her picture, together with the rest of her information was soon displayed. Despite Dark Tails' hatred for her, he could not help but gaze at her. Although the picture was in black and white, she still looked enchanting: her long, straight glossy brown hair, her winning smile. All the features that made him fall in love with her the past year. Almost made him reconsider his decision to kill her. Almost.

Gone was the sweet affection he felt. Gone was the compassion, the pity, the sentiment. In their place was nothing but hate, rage, revenge and bloodlust. That was what he set out to do: kill all those who had wronged him. She was one of them; hence she had to suffer the consequences.

Dark Tails did not need to check her address; he already knew pretty well where she lived. As for employment, she had none. She was a student at the Emerald City University.

"Alright then. That's everyone." Dark Tails wrote her down, ripped the papers out and folded them. He then placed them in his pocket. Turning back to the computer, he closed all the pages and cleared the browser history. It was better to cover his tracks. Then he rose up and headed for the exit.

The beaver saw him go and quickly called out to him. "Um, sir? You're supposed to pay."

Dark Tails ignored him and kept walking.

"Sir? You can't leave without paying!" The beaver called out again and started running after him.

Dark Tails kept on walking, not even bothering to turn his head back.

"Security! Stop that fox!"

Two burly security guards, a bear and a gorilla, stepped in front of Dark Tails, blocking his way to the door. "Hold it, buddy, you know how this works: use the computer, pay and then you go." The gorilla said.

By that time, most of the customers had stopped what they were doing and turned to see what was happening.

Dark Tails looked up at the guards and his eyes glowed red. With hands moving at astonishing speeds, he had the guards by their necks and lifted them up. Their eyes quickly bulged out of their sockets as they reached for their tasers with whatever rapidly fading strength they had left. That was when the dark fox decided to speed things up: his hands glowed red with the red energy as their temperatures soared. Steam started to wisp out of the guards' necks as their fluids evaporated. Pained, strangled gasps issued from their throats as their struggling diminished and they convulsed violently before their bodies went limp.

Dark Tails dropped the dead guards to the floor. They had hand-shaped burn marks on their necks that still smouldered.

Whilst all this was happening, everyone's eyes had turned to the scene. There were audible gasps all around when the guards' dead bodies hit the floor. Everyone in the bureau was petrified with fear and neither made a move to stop the dark fox as he exited the building, lest his murderous wrath descend upon them.

Once Dark Tails was out, he spun his tails and flew away, in the direction of the docks, ready to go kill the first person on his list:

William Young.

 **-O-O-**

"Hey, William! Must I always repeat myself with you?! I said take care of the crates inside the warehouse!" An angry hawk roared at the otter, who was casually leaning on an intermodal container, smoking a cigarette.

"I'll be on it, boss." William replied impassively. "Let me just finish this smoke first."

The hawk, who was already at his boiling point, could not have been any more steamed. "NOW! Or I'll put you on container duty for a month!" He screamed, snatching the cigarette from William's lips and mashing it on the ground. Then he stormed off, muttering curses and meditative mantras to himself.

William, who was still lax, fished out another cigarette from a box in his pocket and lit it. "Whatever you say, Benson." He said that when the hawk was out of earshot. He knew he did not like being called "Benson" and the otter would always get a kick out of the hawk's reaction.

After finishing the cigarette, he decided he had slacked off enough and went to do his duties. The cigarette did its meagre job in warming him up in this chilly night. He wrapped his coat tightly around himself.

"Boss-man gave you a tough time again?" Gibson, his friend and co-worker, asked him once he entered the warehouse.

"Yeah. You could hear him?" William got into a forklift and switched it on.

"We could _all_ hear him. You know he has a voice like a bullhorn." Gibson chuckled, then he grew serious. "That's the third time this week that he's yelled at you. You're on thin ice now, man. One more slip up and the ice cracks."

William just scoffed. "Don't worry, Gibson. Benson's voice ain't gonna kill me."

He then settled into his work for the night, which involved moving crates from one section of the warehouse to the other. When he was supposedly finished, his boss came in.

"William! I need you to take care of those crates that just arrived this afternoon. Chop-chop!" He ordered.

The otter was inclined to throw a dig at his boss, but he just settled for his usual one: "Whatever you say, Benson."

"And my name is not 'Benson'!" The hawk screeched.

"Whatever." William rolled his eyes and proceeded to drive the forklift outside.

He saw the crates neatly stacked in a corner of two containers and went for them.

"That's very typical of you, William. Five years and you still give Mobians headaches."

William stopped the forklift and looked around. He saw nobody. "Who's there?"

There was a laughing sound and then the voice returned. "After spending your entire youth torturing children, you had to continue into your adult life."

The otter was starting to feel on edge. "I swear, if this is some kind of prank, I'm gonna make you chew your tongue out."

"Threats. You know, you can only make threats if you have the physical force to back them up. I don't see that on you." The voice taunted.

William was still looking around. "Then why don't you come out here and see just how much physical force I possess, you coward!" He yelled.

"I'm not being a coward." The voice said and then there was a whooshing sound.

The otter heard a soft thud behind him and turned around. He saw what looked like a black figure crouching down in a landing position.

"I was just waiting for the right time to reveal myself." The figure continued as it raised itself up.

On closer inspection, William could see that it was a fox. Everything about him was black: black fur, black attire... except for the eyes. They were a bright red, as if they were made of blood.

"Who the hell are you?" The otter asked indignantly.

"Oh, you might not remember me because of the new look but let me refresh your memory." The fox said. "Five years ago, Emerald City General Academy. You and your two friends bullied me, simply because I had what you called 'a freakish abomination wrongly called a mutation.' Any of that ring a bell?"

William gasped in surprise. "Miles?"

"Yeah. Except I go by 'Dark Tails' now." The fox took a step forward.

The otter remained rooted in the forklift. He overcame his initial surprise and once again donned his impassive look. "Whatever. So what do you want? An apology?"

Dark Tails snickered humourlessly. "No. It's too late for that."

Something about the way the dark fox said it sent a chill down William's spine. "What is it then? Revenge?"

"Revenge is an understatement." Dark Tails' hands then started to glow red. "What I really want is you... dead."

William's eyes widened at that last sentence. He momentarily thought the fox was bluffing but was proved wrong when he raised his glowing hand, palm open and pointing at him. He did not need to be a comic book nerd to know what comes next. He barely scrambled out of the forklift in time before a red blast blew the machine up. With the path to the warehouse blocked by the dark fox and nowhere else to go, William turned tail and ran for the only available path: straight into the maze of containers.

 **-O-O-**

Never in his life had William Young been so scared. He grew up in a family that always taught him that the best way to not get others to frighten you is if you become frightening yourself. That was why he had become a bully at school. But now, he was running scared. Scared shitless.

Scared of the very Mobian that was previously scared of _him._ Karma had really bit him in the ass there.

He rounded a turn and glanced back behind him. There was no sign of Dark Tails. But that did not mean he was safe. He had to find a way to warn someone, to get help.

He turned another corner and instantly came to a stop so abrupt, he fell over.

At the far end of the corridor, stood Dark Tails. The otter could see the glowing eyes of the dark fox despite the distance.

William scrambled to his feet and turned tail. He ran in a different direction and turned back. Still, the dark fox was not pursuing him. But he was sure he was somewhere in the maze, heading him off.

He approached a junction and ran towards it. He was almost near it when a red beam of energy straight from above suddenly streaked in front of him. It slowly moved from one end of the corridor to the other, leaving a red hot, almost molten streak on the concrete. William looked up, trying to find the source. He saw Dark Tails standing on top of a stack of containers, his hand smoking.

Once again, the otter u-turned and headed off in another direction. He looked back up to where he last saw the dark fox. He was not there.

That made him gulp. He knew that Dark Tails was just toying with him, tiring him out until he would be too weak to fight back. But he could avoid a fight if he found a way back to the warehouse. But then again, he was also wondering why no one had come looking for him. Did they not notice his absence? Did they not hear the forklift blow up?

In a bid to try and outwit Dark Tails, William turned back and ran in the direction he once came. He figured that maybe the dark fox would head him off, so it was best to think one step ahead.

He turned a corner and saw that he was on the edge of the pier. He could see the warehouse a good distance away and instantly sprinted for it. He was so focused on the warehouse, he did not pay attention to his surroundings.

Dark Tails landed behind the running otter. He smirked and held up his arm, charging it with energy. Taking precise aim, he fired off a blast.

The blast scored a direct hit on William's right leg, blowing half of it right off.

The otter cried out in agony as he collapsed to the ground, clutching at the stump on his thigh where his leg once was. It did nothing to stop the blood that was freely blowing out and the adrenaline in his system only made him bleed faster.

The helpless otter looked up and was just in time to see the dark fox descend upon him. He started to whimper. "Please, Miles, I- I- I- I'm sorry al- al- al- alright? I'm sorry for- for- for bullying you back at school. It- it was immature of me and-" he did not get any further, for Dark Tails quickly had his fingers wrapped around his throat.

"I told you. Apologies are pointless. The only thing I want is you dead." Dark Tails growled menacingly as he pushed William's head to one side, exposing his neck. In his other hand, he unsheathed his claws and prepared for the killing strike.

"William!"

A loud, angry voice interrupted him. Dark Tails looked up and saw an enraged hawk standing there.

"Do you wanna explain why the forklift is on fire? And what the hell are you doing on the floor? This ain't the time for a nap! I told you to take care of the crates outside yet you're busy wrestling with... who the hell is this? You know you're not supposed to have friends over during working hours!" The hawk ranted like an angry general and Dark Tails had had enough.

"You." He pointed to the irate hawk. "Leave now."

"What?!" The hawk barked, confused. Who was this fox, coming to his place of business, fooling around with his employees and was now telling him what to do? He stomped towards him. "Listen here, fox. You do not come onto my place of work and distract my employees as if you own the place! Now get out of here while you still have the chance, or else I'll have you arrested for tres-" His voice trailed off when he got close enough and could now see the situation more clearly.

His employee was pinned down by the fox, who had his claws out, aiming for William's throat. The otter was lying in a pool of blood. It was coming from a stump where his right leg should have been. The hawk put his hand to his mouth to try and stop himself from throwing up.

"Oh, my God!" He exclaimed.

Dark Tails released William and stood up. He approached the hawk, who was frozen in bewilderment and grabbed him by the neck. The hawk squawked in surprise as he was jolted out of his stupor. The dark fox squeezed the hawk's neck until he felt something crack. Then he pulled his face closer. "You should have left when you still had the chance."

He flung the body away, not caring if the hawk was alive or dead and then turned back to his intended target.

When Dark Tails left to deal with his boss, William saw an opportunity to escape. With whatever strength he had left, he crawled to the edge of the pier in a bid to swim for it. Sure the salt water was going to sting his wound but it was the only shot he had at living to see another day.

Dark Tails saw the pathetic effort of an escape. Just as William went over the edge, Dark Tails dove with astonishing speed and caught the otter's trailing tail. He then used his enhanced strength to pull him back in and slam him into a container.

Bereft of any strength and with the light rapidly fading from his eyes, William could not even manage a groan. With whatever sense of feeling he had left, he felt Dark Tails lift him up by the neck and hold his chin up. His failing green eyes looked into the blood red murderous ones of the dark fox.

"Not a lot of blood is gonna come out if I cut your arteries open." Dark Tails stated darkly. "So I'm just gonna cut off your air supply instead."

With the claws on his thumb and index finger, Dark Tails punctured William's throat and pushed his fingers in deeper. He felt them hit a pipe and with a violent twist, he yanked his fingers out, cutting the otter's wind pipe.

He let William's body fall and stood back with a gleeful smile as he watched the otter asphyxiate. The sounds of him futilely trying to suck air into his lungs were music to the dark fox's ears. Finally, William, gave out a choked sound and went limp on the ground.

Dark Tails let out a maniacal laugh as he stood over William's body. He took out the paper with his name and ripped it to shreds. Then, he spun his tails and took off into the night sky.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: Another chapter (less gruesome this time) done. Let me know what you think with a review or PM (I recommend a review, though). Please read and enjoy.**

 **Before I forget, an important announcement: I am starting college soon so I may not be updating my stories frequently. But I won't stop writing. The time between updates will just be longer.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	5. Mobius' most dangerous Mobian

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. College just got to me and kind of made me lose my passion for writing. But it's back now. Hopefully I will not lose it again. Anyways, on with the story.**

If there was one case that Kevin Wolfe hated, then it was a murder case. He found them to be rather annoying and tedious. He would have to spend most of his working hours trying to find some idiot who just thought of taking a life. It made him want to reconsider being a cop. Of course that was his job and it was more exciting than a white collar job but sometimes he often asked himself if he was getting more than he bargained for.

"You seem nervous, Kev." His partner, a hare named Ralph, nudged him with his elbow.

Kevin was momentarily startled before shifting his focus back to the road in front of him. "I'm not nervous. I'm just a little bit annoyed at this sudden string of murders."

That answer appeared to satisfy Ralph. "Yeah, I totally get that. First it was the Midnight Slashers, then those cops at the mall, those two security guards and now this guy."

"Two security guards?" Kevin asked, clearly unaware of that particular incident.

"Yeah, you were not there at the time. It happened yesterday morning at Compu-Fi." Ralph explained. "A black furred fox with two tails entered the premises, used a computer and killed two guards when he tried to leave without paying."

Kevin was stunned. "Wait, back up a bit. Did you just say 'fox with two tails'?"

"Yeah. What about it?" Ralph asked, his eyebrow rising.

Kevin realised his reaction was a bit exaggerated, so he quickly composed himself. "It's nothing really. Just surprised that there's a two tailed fox out there." He lied. In truth, the wolf was in deep thought. Another two tailed fox had entered the mix, but this one was a murderer. The only other two tailed fox that he knew was Tails. So, could it be that Tails was... no, he could not! Why did he even think that? Tails was a nice, lovable fox and he was as sure as hell that Tails did not have a murderous bone in his body.

 **-O-O-**

Kevin sighed as he approached the docks. A large number of police cruisers were scattered all over the place. He pulled over and he and his partner got out and walked towards the crime scene.

The area was surrounded by yellow tape and Emerald City police officers bustled about. One cop, a possum, came out and greeted them.

"About time you guys showed up." He said gruffly. "Come on, it's this way." They ducked under the yellow tape and he led them through a maze of containers. As they walked, the possum filled them in on what he had gathered. "Dispatch got an emergency call last night. There was an attack here at approximately ten fifteen pm on a worker and his foreman. The foreman managed to survive but suffered severe injuries to his spinal cord. The worker... well he's dead."

"Did the foreman manage to identify the attacker?" Ralph asked.

"Yeah. He said it was some 'scary looking' black furred fox." The possum air quoted the "scary looking" part.

The salty smell of the sea was ever present at the docks but Kevin's keen nose picked up another smell: the smell of blood.

They rounded a corner and came at a pier. The wood was splashed with blood in certain places, all of which were marked with numbered tags. A forensic scientist, a swallow, was huddled over something and as they got closer, they could clearly see that it was the dead body of an otter.

He had a massive cut across his throat and was missing half of his right leg.

"Good Lord." Kevin heard Ralph whisper under his breath.

"Gruesome, ain't it?" The possum commented wryly.

Ralph took a few breaths of sea air to come himself.

"You know, the scary part is he did not die from loss of blood, but rather from asphyxiation." The forensic scientist stated. "See that?" He pointed to the deep looking slit that ran across the otter's neck. "The cut ran so deep, it severed the wind pipe.

"So, you think he was somehow, tortured?" Kevin asked as he cast his eyes to the corpse, feeling sorry for the dead otter.

The scientist shrugged. "Maybe. But what really interests me is the missing leg. The leg was not cut off. You see this?" Using a pair of tweezers, he lifted a section of the ripped pants where the stub of the leg was. There edges were covered in scorch marks. "The leg wasn't cut off. It was _blown_ off."

"Blown off? You mean he stepped on a landmine or something?" Ralph asked incredulously.

The swallow rolled his eyes. "No. The rest of his leg is over there." He pointed behind him with his thumb.

Kevin and Ralph took a glance. There was a number tag placed next to what looked like mince meat wrapped in a torn pant leg. A bloody boot lay next to the mush.

Ralph could not take it anymore. He clutched his mouth, then ran to the edge of the pier and emptied his partially digested breakfast into the bay.

Kevin glanced back at the dead otter and stooped over the body, inspecting it closely. Something on the neck then caught his eye. "Hey, what's that?"

The scientist bent down and took a closer look. Right in the edges of the wound were bits of fur. He plucked a piece of the fur and examined it. "Black fur."

"From the assailant, no doubt." Kevin smiled to himself. Maybe they were gonna solve this case sooner than he thought. "I'm gonna need you to run the DNA on that fur. Might give us the identity of the murderer."

The scientist nodded, "Yeah, I'll take care of it."

"Thanks, Winston."

Kevin then turned his attention to his partner, who had recovered from blowing chunks.

"OK. We go to the hospital and ask the foreman a few questions, see if he can give us a more detailed description of the fox." The hare stated.

"Yeah. I want this over as quickly as possible." Kevin commented as they got into their car.

 **-O-O-**

The elevator dinged and the doors opened on the floor that the foreman's room was. The two detectives walked the wide hallway, which had a few doctors bustling about. Eventually, they came to the room that the receptionist said the foreman was occupying.

Ralph knocked on the door and a nurse, who was a snow leopard, answered the door.

"Can I help you?" She asked neutrally.

The hare flashed his badge at her. "I'm Detective Hopper and this is Detective Wolfe. We would like to ask Mr. Jonas a few questions about his attacker."

The nurse looked like she was about to protest but the hare showed her a kind smile, on a countenance that also had an air of authority about it. She eventually relented. "Please hurry. He's completely paralysed and he needs his rest."

"Thank you." Ralph thanked her and walked inside, followed by Kevin. He too flashed the nurse a smile of his own and she returned it with a slight blush. But that smile soon disappeared when he noticed the injured hawk and the sorry state he was in. Although, all he had was a neck brace, the wolf knew the extent of his injuries. A damaged spinal cord always spelled trouble.

"Mr. Jonas?" Ralph called the hawk's name to get his attention. His eyes, which were staring blankly at the ceiling, turned and glanced at the hare.

"I'm Detective Hopper and this is Detective Wolfe." He continued.

"No need for introductions, Detective. I could hear you just fine from the door." Mr. Jonas spoke in a low and rather ominous voice, like a teen Goth.

"Right. First, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies on your injuries and hope you make a rapid recovery." Ralph said solemnly.

"Nah, no need for apologies. It wasn't your fault. But thanks for the well wishing." The hawk could have shrugged if he could feel his arms. He only managed a smile.

"Now, Mr. Jonas, if you would be so kind as to tell us what happened last night?" Ralph politely requested. Kevin was slightly taken aback by the hare's courteousness. He had always pegged his partner as the "tough as iron" type of guy.

The hawk's eyes widened. "I saw the devil!" He exclaimed. He would have punctuated his words with a violent reaction if he was not paralysed.

"Easy there, Mr Jonas." The nurse placed his hand on the frightened hawk's shoulder; a useless gesture really, considering he probably felt nothing from the neck down. "You're safe now and the assailant will not come for you here. Just take a few calming breaths and tell the detective what you know."

Jonas obliged her and began: "Well, I was monitoring the workers as they went about their duties. Then, I noticed a bright light coming from the outside of the warehouse we were stationed in. I went to investigate and saw that a forklift was on fire and the worker who was operating it, William Young, was missing. So I searched the premises for him and that was when I found him... in a fight with someone else who wasn't an employee. The other guy told me to leave but I refused. So he approached me and squeezed my neck until my spine cracked, then threw me to the ground, probably leaving me for dead. The last thing I remember seeing before everything went black was the creature slicing William's neck open with his bare claws."

Ralph's skin paled when Jonas used the word "creature". It made his imagination run wild with images of a mindless beast causing all sorts of carnage around town. But he pushed those thoughts out of his mind. This was the real world and he was a grown Mobian, a professional.

"Can you describe the appearance of this 'creature'." He asked, doing air quotes.

"Sure. From what I could make out, he looked like a black furred fox." Jonas explained.

Kevin jotted the description down in his notebook. "Did he have any distinguishing features?" It was a rhetorical question from his perspective, but he just had to ask it.

The hawk thought for a while. "Hmm... I can't recall. I don't think my brain works the same way as before." He said with remorse. But then suddenly his memory clicked. He would have sat up and snapped his fingers in triumph, had it not been for the fact that all his limbs were rendered totally inactive. "Wait, I remember! The fox had two tails."

At the mention of that little detail, Kevin dropped his pen in shock.

"Hey, Kev, you alright?" Ralph nudged his partner, who appeared to have frozen.

Kevin gasped and realised his reaction had most likely been noticed. He picked up his pen and scribbled into the notebook. "Yeah, I'm fine." He unconsciously shoved the notepad onto his partner's chest and headed for the door without acknowledging anyone else. "You take that to the station."

Ralph was taken aback. "Wh- where are you going?"

Kevin answered without turning his head. "I just need to confirm something to myself."

 **-O-O-**

Sonic was restless. He paced around the room like a father to-be. He was worried out of his mind, not just because Tails was missing but also for the fact that there might also be a murderer on the loose. He had watched the morning news and heard about the murder that took place at the docks. It was the fourth murder that was reported in just two days; and those murders had massive body counts.

The blue hedgehog turned around when he heard the sound of the door opening. He momentarily thought it was Tails but soon deflated when he saw that it was just Amy returning from her own search. To his surprise, Shadow was also with her. Judging from the resigned look on her face, he could tell she was not successful.

"Any luck?" Sonic asked.

"Do I look like I had any luck?" Amy retorted, flopping onto a chair with a sigh.

"OK, I shouldn't have asked." Sonic then turned to Shadow. "What's he doing here?"

"I'm here to help you find Tails. Or maybe you're too dense to see that." Shadow spoke matter-of-factly.

Sonic did not take the ebony hedgehog's remark lightly. He quickly got up in his face. "Nobody asked for your help, Shadow. Maybe _you're_ too dense to see that."

"Would you both just shut up?!" Amy yelled at the two hedgehogs. She had no time or energy for their banter. "Tails is missing and all you can think about is your petty rivalry?"

"He started it!" Sonic argued, pointing at Shadow.

The black hedgehog merely rolled his eyes. "You act like a child trying to prove his innocence to his mother."

"Alright, that's it! You wanna go right now?" Sonic got in Shadow's face once more. Amy wanted to stop them but was too exhausted to intervene.

Before Shadow could let out another snarky reply, there was a knock at the door.

Sonic gave Shadow a " _this is not over_ " look and went to answer the door. It was Kevin.

"Hey, Kev. What brings you here?" He asked as he moved out the way to let the wolf in.

Kevin entered the house and looked around. "Have any of you guys seen Tails?"

"No. We believe he's gone missing." Amy replied.

"Right..." The wolf said, scratching his chin. "And how long has he been missing?"

"Well..." Amy thought long. "... I believe this is the second day."

It was just as Kevin feared: Tails goes missing on the same night the Midnight Slashers were slaughtered, subsequently followed by multiple murders across town. And today, Mr. Jonas had just confirmed his suspicions when he identified the attacker as a fox with two tails. But he said the fox was black furred; Tails' fur is orange, so maybe it was not him. Then again, he could have dyed it.

"Mobius to Kevin!" Sonic shook the wolf out of his deep thoughts. "What's got you all troubled?"

Kevin decided to come out with his suspicions. "Listen, guys, you're not gonna like this but... Tails could be a suspect in these murders."

"What?!" Sonic and Amy exclaimed simultaneously.

Shadow just listened without a word. "Go on."

"Tails went missing two days ago, right? Well, the same night, the Midnight Slashers are slaughtered, the mall is robbed and from the footage in the security camera, it showed that a black furred fox with _two tails_ was responsible for the robbery and the subsequent killing of the officers responding to the alarm. I didn't really believe that but yesterday morning, two guards are killed at Compu-Fi by what witnesses claim was a 'two tailed fox in Goth-like clothing'." Last night, a worker at the docks is killed by what the witness confirmed was a black furred fox with two tails."

Sonic was flabbergasted. "So you think Tails is responsible for these killings? Don't be ridiculous, Kev. Tails wouldn't kill anyone."

Before the wolf could open his mouth, the door burst open and Knuckles staggered in, panting for breath.

"Guys! You're not gonna believe this!" He said, scant of breath. "That emerald we found at Tails' workshop was neither a Chaos nor a Super Emerald. It was a Dark Emerald!"

Shadow's face had its first reaction of the day: surprise. "That's not possible! Those are very rare!"

"Hold on now." Amy intervened. "What the heck is a Dark Emerald?"

"It's an Emerald much like a Chaos Emerald. Except it contains dark energy." Knuckles explained.

"OK, just what exactly are you guys talking about?!" Kevin shouted. His ignorance in the issue was threatening to drive him insane.

Knuckles turned to him. "We'll fill you in on that later. But right now, we have a bigger problem which I was just about to mention."

"Which is...?" Sonic prodded.

"That Dark Emerald was colourless when we found it. Which means the energy has been drained out of it... into something else."

"Or _someone_ else" Shadow put in.

Amy gasped, putting her hands to her mouth. "Tails."

"And whoever has that much Dark Energy in their bodies can undergo a complete change. Their fur turns black and they become enraged, bloodthirsty beings." The echidna concluded.

Kevin raised his arms up, having failed to completely understand the psychobabble the four exchanged. "OK, OK. So long story short, Tails absorbed this 'Dark Energy and it somehow let his dark side out and he's running around town killing people?"

Knuckles nodded. "If Tails has that much Dark Energy coursing through him, he's very much unstoppable. His strength is enhanced, his speed, his agility, reflexes, all peaked. He would have also gained an energy projection ability; very explosive. But most of all, his negative emotions will also run wild. Rage, vengeance, bloodlust. He would want malicious revenge on all those who wronged him or those he hates. And anyone else who crosses his path will most definitely end up dead; dying a slow and painful death." He turned to his friends. "I'm telling, as of now, Tails is by far the most dangerous Mobian on the whole of Mobius."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: I admit it feels kind of rushed but I needed to post something to let you guys know that I'm not out of the game. I'm still writing stories but ever since I started college, I lost a bit of my story writing mojo. But it's back now. And I'll keep on posting but not as regularly as before. Anyway, please read and enjoy**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	6. Murder in the Rundowns

" _The number of murders in Emerald City continues to rise, after an otter was brutally mutilated to death at the docks. This is the fourth murder reported only in the space of three days, after the Midnight Slashers, a mall security guard, a squadron of cops and two security guards at Compu-Fi. Witnesses have identified the killer as a black furred fox with two tails. These murders are also causing panic amongst some of Emerald City's citizens. The Mayor of Emerald City and the police chief have called for calm and offer their assurances that the criminal will be caught before he can kill again."_

There was a knock at the door.

"Who the hell is it?" The rat who lived in the apartment called out.

"The pizza guy." Came the reply.

The rat grudgingly got up from his recliner and trudged to the door, stepping over the mess on the floor: beer cans, cigarette butts, used paper towels and empty pizza boxes. He reached the door and began unlocking the various locks. It was a typical thing for criminals to have doors with multiple locks. If a cop came knocking at the door, it always bought them time to hide evidence or escape.

The rat finally unlocked the last lock and opened his heavy door, a feat which was made even more strenuous since the door scraped the bottom of the floor.

Standing on the outside of his door was a black furred fox, dressed all in black, holding a pizza box in his hand.

The rat wearily looked him up and down. "You don't look like no pizza guy."

"That's because I'm not." The fox answered. "The real pizza guy is bleeding to death over there." He pointed with his thumb.

The rat glanced in the direction he was pointing and sure enough, there was the pizza guy, a monkey dressed in the usual white and red pizza place uniform, lying in a puddle of his own blood on the floor, his life sustaining fluids flowing from slashes in his neck and chest.

His eyes went wide with shock and he stumbled back into his apartment. "What the fuck?"

The fox entered the apartment and tossed the pizza box on the coffee table, which was littered with more pizza boxes. "I believe you're Randy Ratson, small time crook and big time drug dealer." He said, fixing the rat with a piercing stare.

Randy collapsed onto his recliner and found himself withering under the fox's glare but still tried to act tough. "Whose asking?"

As a reply, the fox merely gestured toward the TV.

Randy turned his eyes to the screen. The news was broadcasting security footage from Compu-Fi, which showed a black furred fox effortlessly lifting two burly guards by their necks and appeared to be burning them with his bare hands until they stopped struggling. He then dropped their dead bodies and casually walked out of the building.

The rat turned his attention back to the fox, who was standing there with his arms crossed and a smug expression on his face. The realization dawned on him like a slap to the face. "Oh, my God! You're the black furred fox responsible for those murders!" He pointed a trembling finger at the Mobian.

The fox nodded. "Yeah. And I prefer to be called Dark Tails."

Randy did not even think twice. He reached under the coffee table and pulled out the revolver he kept taped under there. In a flash, Dark Tails was on him and ripped the weapon from his grasp. With his other hand, he punched the rat hard on the shoulder, shattering his collar bone. Randy yelled in pain as he fell back into the chair, clutching his shoulder.

"That was a pretty stupid move to make, Randy." Dark Tails chided the rat. He squeezed the gun in his hand, watching the metal crumple like paper and threw it away. "Now, on to the matter at hand. You're probably wondering why I'm here."

Randy was in so much pain, he could not talk. Instead, he nodded while gritting his teeth.

"I'm looking for someone and I hear you're the one who can tell me where he is?" Dark Tails said.

"Who?" Randy forced the word out.

"Henry Gray."

"I don't know who that is." Randy said.

Dark Tails slowly nodded. "Of course you don't." He then dealt the rat another vicious punch, this time in the ribs. Randy cried out in pain as he felt one of them crack.

The dark fox stooped to Randy's level. "You know, the other guys also said the same thing to me. In the end, they all got what every torture victim dreads: a long, slow, painful death. But you can spare yourself that tragedy if you can tell me where I can find Henry Gray."

"What makes you think I even know the guy?" Randy ground out.

His only answer was another punch to the ribs, this time breaking two.

"Don't try my patience, Randy. Lie to me again and I'll make the pain you currently feel look like a mere pinprick." Dark Tails growled.

Tears started to well up in Randy's eyes. He slowly raised them to meet Dark Tails' red ones. Then he puckered his lips and spat right in the fox's face. "Fuck you."

It was probably the worst thing he could have done. Dark Tails' eyes glowed red and he bared his fangs in fury. He growled deeply as he unsheathed his claws and plunged them deep into the rat's side. The dark fox smiled sadistically as he watched the look of excruciating pain that was on Randy's face.

"I warned you." He whispered sinisterly before he slowly started to rake them upwards, drawing more blood from the wound.

Randy cried out in pain. It was all too much and he eventually cracked. "S- stop! I'll talk, I'll talk! J- just stop!"

Dark Tails obliged him but kept his claws embedded in the rat's flesh. "I'm listening."

"I do know Henry Gray but I don't know where he lives. We only meet at night, by his car, to do business and then go our separate ways. We don't know each other personally." Randy managed to force out.

"Where do you usually meet?" Dark Tails asked.

Randy winced as he felt the claws sever another vein. "We- we meet... in the Rundowns."

The Rundowns was the city's poor district. Apart from being occupied by the lower class, it was also a hangout and place of business for lowlifes and criminals. A place which would suit Henry Gray just fine.

Dark Tails ripped his claws out of Randy, letting the rat fall to the floor. He shook some of the blood off his hand. "Thank you for the information, Randy. Now, to fulfil my end of the bargain." He advanced towards the bleeding rat.

"Hey, wait!" Randy said as he crawled away from the fox, his wound leaving a trail of blood. "You said you'd let me live if I told you!"

Dark Tails smiled malevolently as he shook his head. "No, I said I would spare you a slow death if you told me." He reached down and grabbed Randy by the neck and lifted him up. "That meant I would kill you quickly."

Before Randy could protest any further, Dark Tails violently twisted the rat's neck to the side, sighing with content as he heard the satisfying crack of his spine.

Now, he knew where he could find Henry. All he had to do was wait till nightfall. What to do till then?

The dark fox glanced at his bloody hand, then at the unopened pizza box. All that torture and killing made him kind of hungry. He went to the kitchen sink and washed his hands of the blood, then took the pizza box and opened it, inhaling the tasty smells.

 **-O-O-**

Night had fallen over the city. It was now a time when the average citizen would always walk with an occasional glance over their shoulder, hoping that some mugger was not tailing them. Fear gripped the city at night and anyone who was not in the comfort of their own home was surely an easy target for sadistic criminals.

Henry Gray revelled in that fear. As one of the most feared criminals in The Rundowns, he walked the streets like he owned them. He kind of felt like he did though. He would pass different alleys and reminisce about the crimes he committed in them: _robbed some sucker in that alley, mugged another in that one, raped a college girl in that one, beat some fool half to death in that big one._

Right now, the hyena was on his way to a meeting with his gang. They had called him and said that it was important. And they sounded panicky at the other end. It kind of put him on edge but he tried to dismiss it. _Probably just scared that somebody snitched_ , he thought. He did not like snitches. When they had the fortune of catching one, he often took great pleasure in making them suffer. Cutting off their lips was just the start. What followed always ended in cries of pain and bloody everywhere.

Henry arrived at a dilapidated warehouse. He opened the rusty old door and ventured inside. His gang, a total of twenty-two criminals sat at a table, idly chatting amongst themselves. He walked to the head of the head of the table, snatching a cigarette from the lips of one of them on the way and sat down. Almost immediately, another criminal went to a mini fridge and took out a beer, which he passed to the hyena. He took a swig from the bottle, took a long drag from the cigarette and then flicked it away.

"Now, which one of you sons of bitches called this meeting?" He demanded.

A duck with ruffled feathers stood up. "It's about Randy, boss."

"What about him?" Henry growled.

"He's been iced."

The words were sooner out of his mouth before the hyena violently shot to his feet. "What?!"

The duck took out his phone and passed it on to Henry. He looked at the screen and almost vomited at what he saw: Randy lying on the floor with his neck twisted the wrong way. "Saw that this morning when I stopped by his apartment. There was also a dead pizza guy in the hallway."

"Damn it!" Henry yelled with rage, viciously kicking his chair away and hurting himself in the process. "That rat owed me money!"

"Um, boss? Shouldn't we be more concerned about the loss of a valuable liaison?" A rabbit put in.

"To hell with that!" Henry exclaimed. It was clear he lamented the loss of the unsettled debt more than the loss of a crime partner. "Do you know how much Randy owed me? Thirty thousand big ones. All taken with him to his grave!" The hyena growled to himself, then calmed down and retrieved his chair. "Do you, by any chance, know who did this?"

The duck shook his head. "No, boss. But there are rumours saying it was the black fox that's been killing people around town."

At the mention of the fox, everyone became fearful. The warehouse was filled with the distinct sounds of hushed whispers and frightened shudders.

"Alright, shut it!" Henry shouted above the hubbub. "You heard him yourselves, they are just rumours. There isn't any confirmation whatsoever that the black fox was responsible for Randy's death." He may have sounded sure but deep down, he was trying to convince himself as well.

 **-O-O-**

From atop his vantage point on the roof of a building, Dark Tails surveyed the deplorable squalor that was The Rundowns. Apart from the occasional homeless Mobian, the streets were crawling with all kinds of criminals, from the petty purse snatcher to the drug dealers. During the daytime this part of the city was almost dull, devoid of any activity. But come nightfall, The Rundowns burst into life, the streets full of people. _Bad_ people really, but people nonetheless.

"One of these lowlifes must surely know Henry Gray." The dark fox muttered to himself as he leaped off the rooftop and fanned his tails out, allowing him to glide gently to the ground. He landed in an alley, which was, to his murderous disappointment, empty.

Not that it mattered.

He would soon satiate his bloodlust with the spilled blood of Henry Gray. And anyone else who got in his way.

Speaking of getting in his way, as he turned for the streets, he almost bumped into a mongoose that had entered the same alley and was now rolling a joint. Dark Tails figured he would be a good start.

"Hey, you!" He called to the mongoose, who was currently struggling with his lighter.

"What?" The mongoose asked with annoyance.

Dark Tails could tell he was eager to light up. Not that he cared. "I'm looking for Henry Gray. Do you know where he is?"

"Who's asking?" The mongoose growled as his lighter finally ignited and he lit his joint.

In response, Dark Tails walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck, pushing him up against the wall.

The mongoose's eyes went wide. "Hey! What the hell?"

"I'm asking the questions here." Dark Tails growled menacingly.

"Yeah, well I ain't answering!" The mongoose choked out. In a bid to escape, he brought his lit joint up to the dark fox's neck and stuck the hot end in, hoping to burn him. To his uttermost surprise, the fox did not even flinch.

With his free hand, Dark Tails, grabbed the mongoose's wrist and twisted it. The mongoose then threw a punch with his other hand but Dark Tails caught it, releasing his grip on the mongoose's neck. He then clamped the mongoose's wrists together with his hands and then he turned up the heat.

The mongoose saw the fox's hands glow red and then he felt his wrists burning. He yelled in agonizing pain as wisps of boiling fluids emitted from his wrists. The smell of his own burning flesh assaulted his nostrils. The pain forced him to his knees.

Dark Tails knelt with him. "I can make the pain go away, only if you tell me what I want to know. Do we have a deal?"

"YES!" The mongoose cried out, on the verge of tears.

Dark Tails dropped him and the mongoose quickly scrambled away. He painfully eyed his ruined wrists, which were burned to the flesh. He could even see the white of his bones. "You... you monster." He moaned through pained whimpers.

"Tell me, or it's your whole body next." Dark Tails threatened, his hands glowing red once more.

The mongoose screwed his eyes shut as he spoke, tears trickling down his cheeks. He knew that if he stayed quiet, he would die and if he talked, he would also die. He was screwed, no matter what. He thought to himself, _what the hell?_

"He... usually hangs out with his crew at... an old warehouse in the abandoned yard. I swear, man."

"Right." Dark Tails nodded. "And now, to make the pain go away." He approached the mongoose menacingly.

The hapless mongoose tried to scramble away but his injured wrists prevented him from doing so. He fell flat on his stomach and braced himself for the end.

Dark Tails jumped and put all his weight in his right foot as he violently brought it down on the mongoose's neck, crushing the spinal cord, throat and wind pipe.

 **-O-O-**

Henry saw a teenage duck walk into the warehouse and stride over to the older one. The hyena recognized him as the duck's younger brother. He whispered in the older duck's ear and Henry saw his eyes go wide. Then he nodded and bid the younger duck leave. Then the older one turned to him.

"Boss, you're not gonna like this, but one of your customers was killed just recently..."

"So?" Henry scoffed. He hardly considered the loss of one customer as anything worth concern for. He had lots more.

"...by the black fox."

The mentioning of the fox stirred up more fear amongst the gang and they once again started whispering amongst themselves.

"Shut it!" Henry shouted. He turned to the duck. "So?"

"I'm told the fox is after you." The duck concluded.

"What?!" The hyena exclaimed. Now that _definitely was_ worth concern. He had watched the news and had seen just what the black fox was capable of. And now that he had just learned that he was the fox's main target brought a chill up his spine.

Henry slumped in his seat and took a shaky drink of his beer. He did not like it when his gang saw him as helpless as he was then. He did not feel in charge anymore. He felt like he was already locked up in prison with a life sentence, sharing a cell with an unstable inmate. He felt _dead_.

His gang saw their boss' dejected look. "Don't worry, boss. We can handle him." A skunk fearlessly declared.

"Yeah. If he wants to get to you, he's gonna have to go through us!" The rabbit concurred. He was met with grunts of approval.

Henry found his confidence and swagger returning as every member of his gang raised their fists in the air and shouted their support.

"OK. Gear up then."

Two of his crew, an eagle and a ferret, went to a corner, where a dusty old rug was laid. They rolled it up and revealed a trap door underneath, padlocked shut. The ferret then produced a crowbar and smashed the lock. Then he pried the door open, revealing an old case, which was also padlocked. Another swing smashed it open and the eagle lifted the lid of the case.

Inside were all manner of guns, ranging from simple handguns to semi-automatic machine guns. Every gang member pushed to the case to arm himself.

Henry looked at his gang, now well armed. He had an ear to ear grin on his face as he was now filled with reassurance. The black fox did not stand a chance.

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails landed outside the warehouse. All seemed quiet but he could just pick out the faintest of sounds coming from within with his enhanced hearing. He heard the sound of shuffling feet and the cocking of various weapons. He almost laughed to himself. Did they really think they stood a chance against him?

He was going to have to prove them wrong.

The dark fox brought his hands together and charged up an energy ball. It grew in mass until bolts of lightning could be seen streaking around it. When he was satisfied with the charge, he reared back and hurled it towards the door.

The resulting explosion blew off the door and part of the wall. The resulting cloud of smoke obscured the Mobians inside but they took it as a sign to open fire. Bullets flew from the smoke to the outside, some even hitting Dark Tails but he paid them no mind. Blowing up the door was just a diversion. He spun his tails and flew up to the roof.

"Hold your fire, you nitwits! Do you even know what you're shooting at?" Henry roared over the sound of haphazard gunfire. When the gunfire ceased and the smoke cleared, he glanced outside.

No one was there.

"Where'd he go?" He asked no one in particular as he felt himself on edge.

Then a voice spoke out. "You know, I'm very surprised that so many of you chose to die for that piece of scum."

Henry decided to challenge. "Pretty high and mighty, coming from a cold hearted murderer like you."

"And I don't stop here. I wish you could be alive to witness the dark and sinister plans I have for this city." The voice sneered. "But killing you is a special pleasure I am reserving for myself."

"Then why are you being such a coward and hiding in the shadows? Come out and do your worst!" The hyena yelled.

His response was a deep, maniacal laugh. "I thought you'd never ask."

What happened next was so fast; it barely registered in Henry's brain. Three of his crew were instantly headless from red blasts that came from the roof. Then a black figure leaped out from the shadows and landed on another gang member.

Dark Tails twisted the neck of the eagle he had landed on, then turned to face the rest, his eyes glowing red with deep malice. They took a step back, momentarily forgetting that they were armed. Training their weapons on the dark fox, they opened fire once more but this time he was not going to give them the satisfaction. Zooming past them faster than the eye could see, he dealt them each death blows: rib breaking punches, throat slitting slashes with his claws or blasting them with his energy blasts. In no time at all, everyone in the warehouse was lying dead, spilling blood from their mouths or from gaping wounds in their necks and chests.

All, except one.

Henry stood stock still, shock and fear written all over his face. He had never seen anyone move that fast. Or do anything that this fox had just done.

Dark Tails grinned maliciously as he approached the petrified hyena. "Henry, Henry, Henry. I'm not surprised you ended up like this: a lowly criminal in your adult life. It actually makes killing you a relief to society. Coz after all... all you've ever done is bully the little guy."

"Who... who are you?" Henry whimpered.

"Allow me to refresh your memory. You used to bully me as a kid. You and your little gang of fucked up detritus." Dark Tails spat. Still, the hyena seemed clueless so he continued. "All because I had these." He flicked his tails on either side of his body, displaying them in front of Henry.

The hyena blinked incredulously. "Miles... Prower?"

Dark Tails nodded. "Yes. I never had the guts to stand up to you then. Now, I have the power to do more than just fight back." He rubbed the tips of his Tails together. Oddly enough, they made a scraping sound as if he had rubbed two swords together.

Henry gulped and took a step back. He tripped over something and fell backwards. He saw that he had tripped on a gun and did not think twice. He grabbed for it, aimed as best as his trembling hands could allow and finished off whatever rounds were left into the fox.

Dark Tails felt every round that hit him and it only made him more enraged. He spun around in a full 360 and fanned out his tails, feeling one of them cut through skin, flesh and bone. When he turned back around, Henry was missing his left hand.

The hyena howled in pain and clutched the bloody stump, hoping to stem the flow of blood. He looked up and saw the dark fox's tails rise as if they had a mind of their own. Then they reared back like snakes preparing to strike.

Despite his pain and knowing that he was going to die, Henry Gray thought it best to have the last laugh in his final seconds. He sneered through gritted teeth. "You may those powers make you a hotshot, Miles but know this: you'll always be a freak."

Dark Tails growled ferociously as his tails struck.

The last thing Henry Gray saw were angry, red eyes and two tails finding their home in his chest.

 **A/N: A lack of classes these past days has given me plenty of time to update this story ahead of my planned schedule. Anyways, please read and enjoy. Till next chapter.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	7. Priorities

The incessant ringing of his phone eventually stirred Kevin from his sleep. The wolf growled and picked it up, glancing at the screen with tired eyes.

He was getting a phone call. From his partner, Ralph.

The wolf glanced at his alarm clock and saw that it was just nearing midnight.

 _This had better be good_ , he thought to himself as he answered the call.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Were the first words that came out of his mouth.

" _That was the same thing I said when I also got the call."_ Was Ralph's retort.

Kevin sighed drowsily. "What's going on?"

" _Our new friend struck again just recently."_

Now that definitely got Kevin's attention as all sleep evaporated from him in an instant. "The black fox?"

The question was met with a sarcastic reply. _"No, it was the mailman. Of course the black fox! Wipe the sleep out of your brain and focus!"_

Unlike Kevin, Ralph was a complete workaholic. It was no surprise that he was calling about their case this late. Or early. Midnight had just struck.

"Where did he attack this time?" Kevin asked as he shuffled out of bed.

" _In The Rundowns."_ Ralph replied.

"You en route?"

" _No. I'm on my way over to your apartment. Hope you've got your pants on."_

He did not. "Just call me when you get here." Kevin said and hung up. He sighed and stretched himself, feeling his stiff joints straighten. This was just what he needed: another attack from the black fox. But if Knuckles was telling the truth, that Tails had really become this... monster, then he might find himself making some tough decisions. But of course, he found that hard to believe. As far as he knew, Tails was a sweet and lovable fellow; he would not be doing all this on purpose. Of course, that also begged the question: if they eventually caught him, what would they do with him?

He dreaded that moment. Probably even hopped that they never caught him.

But innocent people were dying. And as a cop, it was his duty to do something about it.

There was a knock at his door, followed by a ringing on his phone. Ralph was here already?

And Kevin had not even put on his pants yet.

 **-O-O-**

The Rundowns had always given Kevin the creeps. The place was just crawling with all manner of scary looking people who had questionable background. As they drove through the streets, they were met with scathing stares from the district's residents as if telling them blatantly that they were not welcome there. Of course Kevin knew about The Rundowns being a criminal hotspot but the criminals were as smart as they were filthy; they hid their tracks well.

"So, what can you tell me about the fox's latest murder?" Kevin asked his partner.

"Not much. I just received a call from one of the patrol cars saying that they were going to investigate some disturbances in The Rundowns." Ralph answered. "I'm sure we'll get some more answers when we get there."

A few minutes of driving later, they had reached their destination, which was an old industrial site. Several other police cruisers were parked haphazardly around the area. Yellow tape surrounded a particular dilapidated building.

The two detectives got out of the car and were approached by a squirrel cop.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Ralph asked, getting right to the point.

The squirrel began. "Well, I received a call, saying there were a few complaints in The Rundowns about gunfire. So, I went to investigate and that's when I found... that." He said gesturing towards the building.

"Right." Ralph said impassively and then crossed the yellow tape, followed by Kevin.

The squirrel called out. "I must warn you though. You might not want to see what happened in there."

Ralph merely scoffed. He was pretty sure that he had seen it all.

But as he entered the building through a giant hole where the door was supposed to be, he was in for the shock of his life.

Over twenty-two bodies, broken and bloodied, were strewn across the entire floor. Dried blood covered certain areas of the floor and some of the bodies were mutilated beyond compare, others missing a few limbs or a chunk of flesh. The entire interior of the building reeked of blood.

It was all too much for Ralph as he ran back outside and threw up.

Kevin, however, could take it and he slowly walked through the massacre. There was not a spot in the warehouse that did not have a disembodied limb, a splash of blood or a corpse.

And to think that it was Tails who did all this. Tails, under the influence of that Dark Energy that Knuckles told him about; he was still trying to make sense of it all.

"Detective Wolfe, over here!" A cop called out.

Kevin walked over to the cop's position, manoeuvring his way around the blood soaked floor. He found the cop standing over the corpse of a hyena.

The dead hyena had his right arm missing; the detached limb still being in close proximity to his body, though. But what really got the wolf's attention were the two gaping holes in the hyena's chest.

He instantly recognized the hyena: Henry Gray. A notorious drug dealer and occasional murderer. Emerald City PD had been after him and his gang for years. And here they were, all dead, killed in one night.

A heavy breathing caused Kevin to turn his head around. Ralph staggered into the building, hunched over and holding his stomach. He tried to compose himself, something he was finding difficult to do.

"You know, being a cop and all, I expected you to have the stomach for this kind of thing." Kevin teased.

"No, I can take it." Ralph breathed. He stood up straight and then cleared his throat. "Now, what do we have here?"

In response, Kevin gestured to the dead hyena. "Henry Gray. Or what's left of him."

Ralph stared at the dead hyena incredulously. "We have been after this son of a bitch for years. Then that black fox comes along and takes care of him in a single night?"

"I almost want to thank him." Kevin jokingly mused.

The rabbit regarded his partner with a withering stare. "Hey, is that your idea of justice?"

"I was just kidding, Ralph. Lighten up for once." Kevin stated, raising his hands up defensively.

Ralph grunted and turned his attention back to Henry Gray's corpse. "Humph. So the black fox also had a beef with Gray. Probably something crime related."

Kevin merely shrugged. He was giving Ralph's theory the benefit of the doubt just to keep him in the dark. He did not want his partner to know that the fox was one of his good friends, under the influence of something he would not understand. Ralph would just brand him crazy, have him removed from the case and probably get him fired. One way or the other, he knew that he had to do what was right. For the good of his friend and for the good of the citizens of Emerald City.

"... or maybe there's a pattern to his actions. We just have to figure it out." The rabbit mused as he turned in the direction of Henry Gray's corpse and inspected the large wounds on his chest. He visibly grimaced as he mentally measured the holes. They were clearly larger than any stab wounds he had ever encountered. "What in the world could he have used to do that?" The rabbit marvelled at the size of the holes and felt his weak stomach threaten to give.

"I don't know." Kevin replied. "But I'll have forensics take a closer look at the place first thing in the morning." And with that, he turned away and headed out the building.

 **-O-O-**

"Come on, guys. We can't give up just yet." Sonic said, trying to cheer his friends up. "We're gonna find him."

"Whom are you trying to convince, Sonic? Them, or yourself?" Shadow retorted.

"Some help you're turning out to be." Sonic growled. "Are you here to fill us with a pessimistic mindset or are you actually here to help us find Tails?"

"Guys, focus!" Knuckles yelled before the two hedgehogs could exchange further insults. "Right now, we have to step up our efforts if we are to find Tails."

"Don't you mean 'Dark Tails'?" The black hedgehog corrected the echidna. "Right now, it's no longer about _finding_ him. It's about _catching_ him."

Sonic angrily stood up from his seat and approached Shadow. "Hey, he's not some wild animal!"

Shadow met Sonic's glare with a cool and collected one. "He's running around the city killing innocent people. I don't know about you but to me, that is pretty wild. We have to stop him before he kills again."

There was the sound of the door opening and closing. Kevin walked in with a sombre expression on his face. "Dark Tails struck again last night."

That caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Who was the victim?" Amy inquired.

"A notorious drug dealer by the name of Henry Gray. And his entire gang, about twenty in total, excluding Gray himself." Kevin replied.

Amy put her hands to her mouth to silence her gasp of horror. "Oh, dear."

"It would appear Tails is in too deep than we thought." Shadow stated. "As much as I know that this will stun you all, I'm afraid we can no longer consider Tails as a friend."

Sonic was stunned. "You're giving up on him already?"

"I'm being logical." Shadow answered calmly. "If we don't act now, he will continue to kill thousands of innocent people. The entire population of Emerald City will be reduced to nothing in a matter of days."

Sonic refused to back down. "No. I'm not giving up on my best friend. If we can find him, I know we can... cure him somehow."

"Angel Island's scientists are doing what they can to reverse engineer Tails' machine." Knuckles put in. "Once they succeed, we can restore Tails back to the sweet and kind fox we all know and love."

"You mean _if_ they succeed in reverse engineering the machine." Shadow retorted, quickly pouring cold water on their rising expectations. "I would not get my hopes up quickly if I were you."

Sonic did not like the black hedgehog's deflating attitude. "Is that all you're good at, Shadow? Spreading doubt and being all pessimistic? So far, we've got nothing helpful from you."

Shadow just glared at his rival, his face stonily calm. "I had G.U.N. put out an APB on Tails the moment I agreed to help you guys. If they spot him, they will let me know."

His words had the desired effect on Sonic as the blue hedgehog's glare softened and his angry expression gave way to one of curiosity. "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"I did not have to." Shadow replied, before turning on his heels and zooming out the door.

"Great. Now I'm the bad guy." Sonic huffed.

"How am I going to explain this to the chief?" Kevin asked to no one in particular.

"Explain what?" Amy asked.

"That the black fox we've been chasing is one of my friends under the influence of some corruptive mystical energy. The chief is really indifferent about matters like this. This is what he considers 'crazy, magical mumbo jumbo that only a street corner lunatic could make up.'" He air quoted the words. "If I were to walk into his office and tell him all that, he would quickly fire me, have me arrested and locked away in a mental asylum."

"So don't tell him. As of now, we keep this between us. We can't have anyone else knowing that the fox is actually one of our friends." Sonic declared. "As of now... we continue searching for him."

Everyone nodded and then proceeded to leave the house.

 **-O-O-**

After a long day of searching, Sonic was walking Amy home. The night air was slightly warm and the full moon lit their way. But despite the bright feeling of the night, they knew that a darkness was lurking about somewhere, busy plotting its next move on another one of Emerald City's hapless citizens.

Once again, their search for Dark Tails proved fruitless. They had not really counted on the fox to be so stealthy but at the same time, able to attract a lot of attention to himself. It kind of felt like they were chasing after a celebrity. No, scratch that. They were chasing after a murderer. But from their point of view, it was an unwilling murderer.

The two hedgehogs were walking in silence, which made Amy uneasy. She decided to break it. "Hey um... Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog turned to her. "Yeah, Amy?"

The pink hedgehog shyly poked at a rock with the toe of her boot. "Um... when all this is over... when we restore Dark Tails to normal... I was wondering if... you know... we could do something else? You know... just the two of us?"

That definitely caught Sonic off guard. He tried to skirt the question. "Um... now is not really the time to be thinking about that, Amy."

"I said _after_ we restore Dark Tails to normal." Amy replied sheepishly.

The blue hedgehog's face became stern, like a teacher's. "Yeah, but right now, finding Tails is our first priority, Amy. Let's not think ahead of that, understand?"

Amy solemnly nodded. "Yeah, you're right." She did not say another word throughout the duration of their walk. But when she stole glances at Sonic, she saw that he was deep in thought, despite his best attempts to keep a straight face.

When they got to Amy's house, Sonic surprised her with his answer. "I'll... think about it, OK?" He did not wait for her reply and quickly zoomed on home.

Sonic went straight to the TV and turned on the news channel. Dark Tails' latest murder was the top story of the day since the morning. The hedgehog grimaced to himself when a video showed the various dead bodies strewn about the building.

He turned the TV off and went to stand by the window. Tails... or Dark Tails, whatever, was getting worse. Although his latest kill had been no one but a group of criminals, Sonic could still not comprehend the violent and bloodthirsty behaviour. Who knew who Dark Tails' next target was? It was completely impossible for him to predict the fox's next move. Many would think that he was just killing randomly but Sonic knew that there was a pattern, that every kill had a reason behind it.

Despite claiming to be inseparable friends and claiming to know each other very well, Sonic knew that Tails had his own secrets, secrets he would not share with him. So, his conclusion was that the people Dark Tails killed had some back story with the fox.

With all those thoughts running through Sonic's head, Amy's proposal was at the back of his mind. He sighed as he gazed up at the night sky. "Where are you, Tails?"

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: I know what you're thinking: "over a month of writing and this is what he came up with?" Well, I admit that I am losing my touch a bit but I'll try to make the next chapter way better. I hope you all have patience with me.**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	8. No conscience

**A/N: Thank you guys for your support in encouraging me and lifting my spirits. BTW before I start, a reply to a guest's review: I have no idea what you mean when you say "fake and gay"**

 **Anyways, this time, I had to delve deeper than usual into one of Dark Tails' victims.**

Despite the full moon lighting the streets, the feeling of darkness was ever present in Emerald City. Especially now that a murderous dark fox freely walked the streets of the city.

Ever since Dark Tails came onto the scene, the city had been running scared and its citizens were driven completely paranoid. Especially during the night, when they were sure the fox walked with an unopposed freedom.

As of tonight, after killing his second target, Henry Gray, Dark Tails sought refuge in one of the Rundowns' dilapidated apartments. Prying the window of a random flat open, he hopped in and quickly shut it. He immediately regretted doing so.

His sharp nostrils were instantly assaulted by an intoxicating blend of stenches that would undermine a skunk's spray. He was forced to reopen the window to stick his head out and take huge gulps of fresh air.

"OK. This is deplorable." The dark fox gagged as his night vision kicked in, allowing him to take a look at the apartment's pathetic conditions in the darkness. He knew the residents of the Rundowns lived in squalor but this was an all new low. A few steps forward and he felt his shoe stepping into something sticky. He did not want to know what that was.

Of course, the apartment's poor state did not matter to Dark Tails in the least. All he wanted there was some food and maybe a place to rest for awhile. Then, he would continue his mission of revenge.

Dark Tails walked to the fridge, which was emitting an annoying rattling noise and threw the door open, hoping to find something edible to eat. He did not. The fridge was more like a breeding ground for fungus than a food preserver. He shut the door in disgust. Clearly whoever lived here treated their home with neglect. But he did not care in the least.

The dark fox did not even want to bother looking around, as he knew he would find nothing of interest in here. But as he turned to head out the door, his sharp eyes caught something of interest. It was a picture. He moved closer to inspect it and his usually angry face rose to a new level of rage.

It was a picture of Henry Gray with his other two friends, William Young and Carl Larson, the otter and hyena flanking the lion. They were dressed in their Emerald City Academy uniforms and had their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders.

The picture, unlike everything else in the room, was in a picture frame that looked to have been neatly taken care of. It was probably the only thing in the entire apartment that was still treated as though it still existed, as it bore no characteristics of neglect such as wear or dust.

It took Dark Tails less than a second to decipher whose apartment this was: Henry Gray's.

It even took him less time to shatter the frame's glass with a quick fist, damaging the frame but not the picture. He wrenched it from the busted frame and held it in his hands. Staring at the three Mobians in the picture, the dark fox felt mixed feelings: rage for what they had done to him in the past but also a slight satisfaction, knowing that two of the three were now dead. Killed by his own hand. Now only Carl remained.

Dark Tails licked his lips in bloodthirsty anticipation as he glared daggers at the lion in the centre of the group. "Only you remain, Carl Larson. I know where you work. I know where you live. Believe you me, I will make your death a pleasure to watch." He intoned as his hands glowed red. The picture slowly smoked until it finally combusted.

The dark fox watched, almost hypnotically, as the flames licked at the picture. The sight brought a small smile to his muzzle as one by one, the bullies were licked off the picture. It looked almost ominous when William's face was first to be destroyed, followed by Henry's –the same order in which they were killed. Carl's face was finally burned last. Dark Tails let the ashes fall through his fingers, before dusting his hands.

He briefly considered flying over to Carl's house and killing him that very night but he restrained himself. He wanted to make his hunt last as long as his bloodlust allowed. And right now, said bloodlust was satiated.

Dark Tails was interrupted from his murderous thoughts when his ears picked up the distinct sounds of approaching sirens; it seemed the police were responding to the atrocity he had recently caused. There was no need for him to linger there any longer. Time to go.

Rather than use the window like before, he opted to use the door this time. He did not want to e spotted flying away. The dark fox opened the apartment's door and walked into the dimly lit hallway.

 **-O-O-**

" _The notorious drug dealer, Henry Gray, along with over twenty of his compatriots, was found brutally slaughtered at their hideout at approximately eleven forty-eight last night. The police believe that this was once again the work of the black fox, who is also responsible for three other murders across the city. The Emerald City Police are urging the citizens to remain calm and offer their assurances that the murderer will be caught. Henry Gray had previously evaded police for-"_

That was all Carl Larson had wanted to hear before the clicked the TV off. He sighed deeply as he reclined in his office chair. It had been a strangely uneventful day at the office and he found himself dealing with some boring paperwork.

Although he did not show it, he was deeply gutted to hear about his friends' deaths. First it was William and now Henry. Despite the latter turning to a life of crime, Carl still valued the friendship they shared when they were in school. But if what the police said was true, that both William and Henry were killed by the same person, Carl merely assumed they did something to piss him off. This was his theory: Henry needed some help with a "job" and recruited William. Despite the otter's honest job as a night worker at the docks, he would occasionally run himself into a rather sticky situation, courtesy of Henry. He was an easy go-to guy if the hyena required some assistance. Anyways, they probably did something that did not please the black fox and they ended up being marked for death. William was first and Henry followed.

Of course it was just a theory. He did not really know why the black fox would target his friends but he was certainly sure about one thing: as far as he was concerned, he did nothing to make himself a target.

The lion was snapped out of his thoughts when his desk phone beeped. He pressed the answer button. "Larson here."

" _Larson, we have some customers. We need you at the bottom floor to work your magic."_ The voice at the other end ordered.

Carl heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, _something fun to do_. That was why he loved this job. With a spring in his step, he strutted out of his office and headed for the elevator.

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails was restless. There was something about watching his target sit vulnerable, yet doing nothing about it that drove the dark fox to his limits. He was currently on the rooftop of a building that was opposite Carl's office, offering him an uncompromised view of the lion at his place of work without being seen. With his eagle-like vision, he could clearly make out Carl sitting in his office, going through a stack of papers.

Completely oblivious to the dark fox's venomous glare.

Dark Tails had been observing his target for the better part of the afternoon. And the entire afternoon was nothing but torture to him, knowing that he could simply just fly across the street separating the two buildings, crash through Carl's office window and have his way with the lion until he deemed it the right moment to end him. But he restrained himself. He wanted to make the kill at the hour that seemed most appropriate: night time. To kill his enemy at night, in the comfort of his own home seemed more amoral.

Right now, the dark fox just fuelled his rage and bloodlust with gruesome images of Carl's body after he would be done mutilating him. Out of the three bullies, it was Carl who had tortured him the most. The memories were fresh in Dark Tails' mind and he growled maliciously just thinking about them. Without even registering it in his brain, his hand glowed red and he opened his palm and aimed it at the lion's office. He quickly collected himself and stopped just short of firing a blast at the oblivious lion.

 _Control yourself, Dark Tails. You will deliver his comeuppance soon enough._

Just then, Dark Tails saw Carl answer his phone. He was too far away to hear anything but afterwards, the lion got up and exited his office.

An idea then struck the dark fox. He could not harm Carl just yet. But he could at mess with him. And he knew just how to do it.

Dark Tails walked to the door on the rooftop that led to the stairs. Raising his fist, he punched the concrete so hard he broke away a few bricks. He picked up a brick that was still in one piece and raised his index finger, unsheathing a claw. Then, like a woodcarver, he began to scratch a message onto the brick.

He took surprisingly less time to carve out the message. He blew onto the brick to get the dust off it and gazed at the short but foreboding message he had carved onto it. Now, it was time to deliver it.

Dark Tails tested the brick's weight and then reared his hand back. He carefully calculated his aim and then hurled the brick.

With his enhanced strength, he was able to send the brick across the street with relative ease. His aim was well and true as the projectile smashed through the office window. It bounced off the table, scattering the neatly organized paperwork all over the floor, before it landed on the carpet itself.

The mess the brick caused brought a smile to Dark Tails' muzzle. He then waited for Carl to return.

It did not take long for the office door to swing open and for a jovial lion to come striding in. The dark fox's grin grew wider when he spied the quick change of expression on his countenance once he noticed the mess and then the brick.

 **-O-O-**

Carl had a little skip in his step as he walked the hallway to his office. That was just what he wanted: a chance to get out of the drab confines of his office and to go work his magic. And he was successful in his endeavours. Whistling all the way to his office, he thought his day could not get any better. He had completed his paperwork and had just offered a customer a deal that promised profits. Ah, life was good.

He swung the door of his office open, his eyes closed and his tune rising up a pitch. But nothing prepared him for what lay in store for him the moment he opened his eyes.

"What the fuck?!"

There was a giant hole in the glass of his window. Broken glass littered the floor closest to the window. But that was not what really irked the lion. His once perfectly done paperwork was now littered all over the floor. A light draft picked up from the broken window, threatening to scatter the mess even further.

Carl walked into his ruined office, his mouth agape and his expression incredulous. That was when he felt his toe poke at something rough and slightly heavy on the floor. Glancing down, he saw that it was a brick.

Instinctively, he bent down and picked it up. How was this possible? He ran to the window and looked out. Staring down at the street a good fifty storeys below, he knew no one would possess the strength to be able to throw a brick this high. Then where did it come from? And more importantly, who threw it?

Carl then examined the brick. He slowly turned it over... and almost dropped it on his foot. The lion gasped and took a huge step away from the brick as if it was a bomb.

There, on the other side of the brick, was a crudely carved message. The message was two simple words but these words were enough to send an uncomfortable chill down his spine:

 **YOU'RE NEXT**

In an even greater state of panic, Carl rushed to the window and frantically looked at the street. Everyone was going about their business. No one looked particularly interested in him. So who was it who would want to target him?

A thought then crossed Carl's mind and his blood froze.

The black fox.

Maybe he was the one that was targeting him. But Carl willed himself to calm down. He was being ridiculous. From his perspective, he had done nothing to warrant a black fox attack on himself. But still, this was enough to unnerve him.

The lion walked to his desk and pressed the speed dial button. After a few rings, the line was answered.

"What is it, Larson?"

"Mr. Sanders, someone threw a brick through my office window bearing a threatening message." Carl explained and instantly cursed himself mentally for phrasing it that way. He must have sounded crazy.

Apparently, that was what his boss thought. "Larson, never in my forty years of business have I heard such a farfetched excuse to get out of work."

"What? No, I'm not making this up." Carl sputtered. "Look, you can come see for yourself and if you find out I'm lying, you can suspend me or maybe even fire me."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. "Very well. I hope you 're not risking your job for a mere joke, Larson." Then the line went dead.

Carl did not have to wait long for his boss, a fat walrus, to come barging into the office, a not-so-pleased expression on his face. But that look quickly dissipated when he saw the state of the office. "What in God's name...!"

Mr. Sanders glanced to the window, seeing the giant hole in the centre and the broken glass on the floor. Then, he saw the brick in Carl's hand, bearing the message. "What kind of tomfoolery is this?"

"I wish I knew, Mr. Sanders." Carl replied. Then, before he knew what he was saying, the words were already out of his mouth. "I think the black fox is targeting me."

He expected a look of condescension from his boss but to his utmost surprise, the walrus' eyes widened, indicating that he understood. Mr. Sanders had also been following the black fox's attacks on the news and was well aware of the danger he posed. And to hear that one of his employees was the fox's target...

"Go home, Larson." Mr. Sanders ordered. "If you're being targeted by the black fox, then you put everyone in this building at risk."

Carl nodded. Although Mr. Sanders sounded a bit brash and uncaring, the lion saw the sense in his command. "OK, boss."

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails was chuckling to himself when he saw how Carl reacted upon seeing the mess in his office, the brick and the message it conveyed. He could tell the lion was in full panic mode, judging by his frantic pacing around his office.

In the end, an overweight walrus came into the office. They talked for a time and when the walrus left, Carl was seen packing some papers and his laptop into his briefcase and practically stumbling for the door. He could not see the lion's face but he had a pretty good idea how scared he looked.

There was no doubt that Carl was on his way home. Dark Tails could tail his car the whole way but there was really no need. He already knew where he lived.

"Alright, Carl. Now it's time you got your just punishment." The dark fox growled before leaping off the edge of the rooftop and flying in the direction of the suburbs.

 **-O-O-**

Carl pulled up to his driveway and heaved a great sigh. He ran a hand through his hair and reclined in his seat. To think that his day had started so promising, who knew it would turn sour all of a sudden? He needed some reprieve.

He got out of his car and walked to the door. After unlocking it, he stepped into the comfort of his home. Almost immediately, he felt relaxed.

"Honey, I'm home!" He called out.

A lioness walked out of the kitchen. Carl smiled as he walked up to her and enveloped her in a hug.

"What was that for?" She asked, giggling.

His response was a feather light kiss. "Can't I be happy to see my wife again after a long day at work?"

"Long day? You're home early." She then frowned. "You're not fired, are you?"

Carl chuckled lightly. Already, he could feel his stress ebbing away. "No, Lucy, I wasn't. Something... different just came up."

"Do tell."

Carl sighed and stepped away from her. "Lucy, I've had a really long day, OK? Are you really going to interrogate me right now?"

Before Lucy could reply, there was the running sound of a soft footfall coming down the stairs. Then a little lioness came bounding into the room, clutching a stuffed toy in her hand.

"Daddy!"

Carl smiled as he got to his knees and opened his arms wide. The child took the initiative and quickly ran up to hug her father. "Hey, Alice! How was school?"

"It was fun! We did bouncing numbers **(I don't know how that works)** and painted pictures. I painted a pony!" The little lioness said with glee.

"That's nice, pumpkin. Won't you show Daddy?" Carl asked in a cute voice.

Alice giggled and scampered back upstairs to retrieve the picture.

Carl sighed with content. If there was one thing that helped get the stress of work out of his system, it was his family. All of his worries and fears were instantly forgotten.

Alice came back downstairs holding her painting, which she proudly showed off to her parents. It was a typical kindergartner's painting which featured a stick-like horse with a large smiling head standing against a background of blue sky, yellow sun with a smiley face and green field.

"Wow, this is wonderful." Carl lied.

 **-O-O-**

Night time had fallen over Emerald City. Once again, anyone who was still up and about walked the night with fear ever present in their minds, fear that not even the Midnight Slashers could instil. Fear that they might fall prey to a certain black fox.

But they were not even Dark Tails' targets. The dark fox himself was currently occupied with his intended one. He walked the lifeless streets of the suburbs, reading from the paper he had written Carl's house address on, trying to match it to one of the houses. He glanced at the houses he passed, observing the silhouettes of their owner as they went about their business. None of them really mattered to him anyway. He was after one house.

"207C Rooker Street. Where are you hiding, Carl?" Dark Tails muttered to himself as he looked at each house's address. His red eyes lit up when he finally found himself on the right track. "Aha! 205C, 206C, 207C! There you are." The dark fox licked across his fangs.

Now that he had found the house, he then debated with himself on how to enter. Should he just blast the door open and charge in? Or should he be more subtle and knock like a normal person, then when Carl goes to answer the door, hit him with a surprise attack. The former would most likely alert the neighbourhood. So he opted for the latter.

Like a good neighbour looking to borrow a cup of sugar, Dark Tails walked up to the porch and tapped at the door.

 **-O-O-**

Carl and his family were seated at the table having dinner. All was going well for the lion. After spending some time with his family, he had completely forgotten all his troubles and worries. After the incident at the office, the rest of the day went by as smoothly as though nothing disturbing happened. He heaved a happy sigh of relaxation. It was true what they said: the comfort of your family is the cure to your worries.

The lion's serene thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. He got up from his seat and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Don't worry, honey, I'll get it."

Carl walked to the door, thinking to himself _I wonder who that could be._ If only he knew.

As soon as he unlocked the door and laid his hand on the doorknob, the door was suddenly kicked in, sending him sprawling on his back a good ten feet away. Groaning in pain, he looked up to see who the wise guy was.

"Who the hell are-?" he stopped when he saw a dark figure standing at the doorway. His blood ran cold and his heart seemed to stop. The incident at the office came back to him like a bucket of water to his face.

The black fox! He had come for him at last!

Glowing red eyes stared back at him. Something about those eyes made him envision death.

The figure slowly crossed the threshold. "Carl Larson." The voice was surprisingly normal; Carl had expected a deep, rumbling voice. "Tonight, you face judgement for your crimes committed against me."

Carl found himself crawling away into the living room. The black fox followed at a leisurely pace. "Who- who are you?"

The response was a malevolent chuckle. "You don't remember me?" Then, with a sudden burst of speed, the fox was leering over him. He quickly clamped his hand over his neck, hoisting him up. "I AM YOUR JUDGEMENT!" With surprising strength for someone of his size, the fox hurled him into a chair. Carl roughly landed on it and sent it toppling over.

The black fox approached the lion. "You used to torture me. Bully me. You made my life at school a living hell!" He punctuated the last word by grabbing Carl by the neck once more and tossing him to the wall. He collided with it on his left shoulder, sending him to a world of pain.

Carl grunted in pain. "Which one were you?" He asked. Memories of his sorry life at Emerald City Academy came flooding back to him, memories he had tried to forget. The days when he preyed upon the weak. Unfortunately, he had bullied a lot of kids back then, he lost count. So he could not remember which one this was.

The fox's answer was a deep growl. "You don't remember me, do you? Allow me to refresh your memory. You knew me by many names: mutant, freak, abomination, to name a few."

"Carl's eyes widened. There was only one person he used to insult that way. It was also at that moment that he noticed the two swishing tails behind the fox. "Miles Prower?"

"That is no longer my name. I now go by Dark Tails."

"What happened to you?" Carl found himself asking. The Miles Prower he remembered was weak, naive and had orange fur. This one was a complete black furred opposite.

"I dabbled in experiments you wouldn't understand. Now that that's out of the way..." He unsheathed his claws and began to advance on Carl.

"Carl, honey what the hell's going on in here?" Lucy walked into the room... and then stopped dead in her tracks once she took in the scene. Her husband was lying on the floor, groaning in agony. Standing a distance from him was... her eyes went wide and she gasped. "Oh, my God!" She quickly ran to her husband as if to protect him.

Just then, another voice came in. "Daddy!" Alice came into the room and automatically ran to her father, trying to hold him close. Then, she stared at the black fox. "Daddy, who's the scary fox?"

Dark Tails simply stared at the three as it dawned on him. "So, you're married. And you have a child." He laughed humourlessly. "I honestly did not expect that. Considering you were a fiendish bully back then, I kind of expected you to end up like those two friends of yours."

Lucy's look of terror momentarily gave way to one of curiosity. She glanced at her husband. "Bully? What is he talking about?"

"Oh! He never told you?" Dark Tails chuckled. "Well, allow me to fill you in on your husband's past. Back then, he was nothing but a complete bully! A sadistic little piece of detritus who took pleasure in torturing those smaller and weaker than him! Including me!" He grinned as he let the words sink in.

"Is- is this true, Carl?" Lucy asked incredulously.

As much as Carl wanted to deny that, to simply declare that these were just the mere claims of a psychopathic murderer, he found himself inclined to tell the truth. "Yes."

Dark Tails snickered as the revelation had its desired effect on the family. Lucy now looked at Carl as if he was a stranger. Her supportive grip on him slackened.

The dark fox then turned to Alice with a wide grin. "You hear that, little girl? Your Daddy is a monster."

Alice, however, refused to let go of her father. She glared at the fox. "You're the monster!"

"Honey, sh!" Carl shushed his daughter, lest she say anything that might worsen things. He turned back to Dark Tails. "So, what do you want?"

Dark Tails licked his fangs with a growl. "To put it simply, I want your life!" He punctuated the last word by unsheathing his claws and igniting his hands. Then he pointed to Lucy and Alice. "They are free to go but not you. This is your last night alive."

The dark fox's message made Lucy shudder. A small part of her, a cowardly side, wanted her to pick up her daughter and run out of the house, to leave her husband to his fate. But her braver side reminded her that in marriage, you stick together through thick and thin.

She bravely stood up to Dark Tails. "Look, whatever person my husband was in the past, he's no longer that person anymore. He's changed."

Dark Tails' eyes narrowed. "The reformed can't reform their past. Now I'll offer you the chance one last time. Leave, or die with him."

Carl quickly intervened before Lucy spoke. He knew full well what his wife was going to say. "Lucy, no. I can't have you suffer for my sins."

Lucy tried to protest. "But."

"But nothing!" Carl yelled, in spite of himself. "This was something I caused and I will take responsibility for it. Take Alice to safety. I will deal with this."

The lioness was on the verge of tears. But she knew her husband was right. Reluctantly, she disentangled Alice's grip on her father. The little girl tried to protest.

"Daddy, no! Don't stay here with this bad fox."

Carl wanted to cry but could not bring himself to do so in front of the dark fox. He whispered a silent "I love you" to his family as Lucy carried the weeping Alice out of the room.

Dark Tails feigned concern at the pitiful scene that unfolded before him. "Wow, you really have changed. I would have never expected you to make that sort of sacrifice." But in a flash, the dark fox's attitude changed. His eyes glowed red and returned to their malicious state. He quickly pounced on Carl and clamped his hand over his neck, lifting him up. He then flung the lion across the room.

Carl landed on a wooden chair, breaking it. It was a very painful landing, he could have sworn something inside him popped. He then heard the dark fox slowly approaching from behind. He had to find a way to fight back. Looking around frantically, he spotted a broken chair leg within his reach. Scrambling desperately, he had managed to grab it before Dark Tails reached him.

As the fox stooped down to lift him up once again, Carl struck. With surprising speed, he turned over and brought one end of the leg across Dark Tails' jaw. The blow sent him pivoting and he staggered away. The lion then saw an opportunity to capitalise. Using the leg as a club, he brought it down as hard as he could on the fox's head. The blow broke the wood in half. It was definitely enough to knock him unconscious.

But to his uttermost surprise, Dark Tails was still conscious. He got up and turned to Carl and the lion's knees went weak when he saw the dark fox's countenance.

Dark Tails had a look of pure hate. His eyes glowed red and he bared his fangs in deep malice. A deep animalistic growl issued forth from his throat as he moved with blinding speed. He unsheathed his claws and took a swipe at Carl's face. The lion staggered back in pain as he felt the distinctive three claw marks across his cheek. But the dark fox struck again, this time swiping at his midsection. The attack forced Carl to hunch over and Dark Tails finished with a knee to the lion's face, sending him on his back.

Blood was oozing from Carl's nose, cheek and stomach. He was in great pain and discomfort and Dark Tails took pride in watching him writhe on the floor.

"Tell me, Carl. How does it feel to be at the receiving end of torture?" The dark fox taunted. "To be the one helpless and at the mercy of someone stronger than you." He kicked the downed lion hard in the side.

Carl cried out. "Go to hell, you freak!"

Dark Tails snarled and he grabbed Carl by the neck. "After you." He ignited his hand.

Carl felt his neck burning. Strangled gasps issued from his throat as he was slowly suffocated and burned at the same time.

Dark Tails revelled in his enemy's pained look. Time to wrap it up. He unsheathed the claws in his other hand and readied himself for the killing strike.

WHAM!

He was interrupted from his torturing by a frying pan that was brought down on his head. The blow was enough to make him release his grip on Carl and disorient him.

"Get away from my husband!" Lucy yelled as she brandished the makeshift weapon. She saw the dark fox slowly rise up and swung the pan once more.

Dark Tails simply used his speed to catch it mid-strike. He wrenched the pan from the lioness grasp and clamped his hand to her neck. "I guess you chose to die with him." He lifted her off the ground and started to squeeze.

There was a determined roar and Dark Tails was suddenly tackled to the floor, releasing Lucy. Carl pinned him down and unleashed the fury of an enraged husband on the dark fox. He punched and scratched at Dark Tails' face, yelling like a madman. "Don't you ever lay your hands on my wife!"

Dark Tails felt every blow strike his face but it did little to deter him. He regained himself and grabbed Carl's hands mid-strike. With a growl, he threw the lion off him.

Carl scrambled to his feet and desperately searched for a weapon to incapacitate the fox with. He saw the chair leg from earlier. This time one end was heavily splintered. It would have to do. He picked it up and advanced on Dark Tails. As the dark fox got to his feet and spun around, Carl was ready. He used the chair leg as a spear and plunged the splintered into his side. Dark Tails roared in pain and Carl stared at the fox's disfigured face triumphantly.

"You should have stayed in your circus, mutant."

But something completely unexpected happened. Dark Tails looked into Carl's eyes and... grinned? Then, to the lion's total surprise, all the injuries he had inflicted on Dark Tails' face started to heal. Soon, his face looked completely flawless as if nothing had ever happened to it.

Carl gasped. "What on Mobius...?"

Dark Tails wrenched the chair leg from his side. The wound knit itself together and eventually, it looked like nothing happened. He then faced Carl with an enraged growl. Igniting his hand, he dealt the lion a mighty fist in the chest that made him spew out blood and sent him sprawling a good twelve feet away until he collided with a wall.

The dark fox's eyes glowed red and he stalked towards the injured lion... only to be met with another form of resistance. This time, in the form of a five year old lioness.

Alice stood in front of Dark Tails, brandishing a "weapon" of her own: her stuffed toy. She wielded it like a bat and struck the fox's legs repeatedly. "You leave my Daddy alone!"

Undeterred, Dark Tails grabbed her by the face and roughly shoved her aside. "Move it or lose it, pipsqueak."

Carl saw his daughter shoved to the floor and was overcome with a fresh burst of adrenaline that made him forget his injuries. He sprang to his feet and charged at Dark Tails...

...only to be hit in the chest with a concussive blast of energy from the dark fox's hand. He fell back to the floor, coughing up more blood.

Dark Tails stooped and grabbed the bleeding lion by the neck. "You should have never picked on me, Carl. Every action has its repercussions." He unsheathed his claws and looked him in the eyes. "Now, let's make this quick."

"Wait!"

Dark Tails stopped what he was doing. He glanced at the lioness impassively.

Lucy slowly approached them, her hands raised in a pleading gesture. She slowly sank to her knees, her eyes brimming with tears. "Look, I know my husband wronged you in the past. He hurt you and bullied you and you have every right to be angry at him. But he had a chance to redeem himself and he took it. He's a changed Mobian now, an upright citizen who now seeks to make the world a better place. He has a family and he is very responsible at taking care of it. Please, find it in your heart to spare him. Carl turned over a new leaf and I'm sure he would want to start over with you, to make things right. Please give him a chance and you'll see what a changed person he is. Please, I beg you, don't take him away from us." Her voice broke at the end. **(I'm not good at speeches, nor am I good at this sappy stuff, so please be patient with me)**

In spite of himself, Dark Tails listened to every word. He donned an expression that made it look like he was mulling it over. Then, he spoke in an unusually soft voice. "Your husband _can_ make things right." He released his grip on Carl's neck and Lucy heaved a sigh of relief.

"...but this is the only way he can do that!"

Before Lucy could even react, Dark Tails grabbed Carl by the chin and tilted his head upwards. In a fluid move, he unsheathed his claws and swiped them across the lion's neck.

Blood splashed onto the wall as Carl slowly bled out. Dark Tails left the body be and watched as Carl's life sustaining fluids poured all over the floor. He donned a smile of satisfaction as the life faded from Carl's eyes and his body stopped twitching.

Lucy screamed and crawled over to her husband's dead body. She wept as she cradled him. As for Alice, she wailed while standing, one hand rubbing her eyes, the other still clutching her toy.

Dark Tails rolled his eyes at the bawling lionesses. He briefly debated on whether he should kill Lucy or leave her be; he chose the latter. There was no need, his intended deed was done. As for Alice... well he sometimes questioned himself on whether he would sink to depraved depths and kill a child. He saw no reason to start now.

As he left, he decided to leave behind a parting shot. "I'd start cleaning up if I were you."

That just tore it. With a mad yell, Lucy retrieved her frying pan, sprang to her feet and dashed for the fox.

Dark Tails stopped and sighed. He remained motionless until the lioness struck. He quickly spun around and caught her hand mid-strike. With his other hand he unsheathed his claws and plunged them into her stomach.

Lucy gasped and dropped the pan. She stared at the dark fox with wide eyes. He could only stare back emotionlessly as he drove his claws in deeper to the fingertips. Then he wrenched his hand free. Blood poured out of her wound like a waterfall. He then released her, letting her lifeless body fall to the floor.

Now, the only sounds in the house were Alice's screams and wails. Dark Tails glanced at her. It looked like his question on whether he would kill a child or not would be answered tonight. The answer was simple: he was Dark Tails. He had no conscience whatsoever.

With a malicious grin, Dark Tails stalked over to the girl. She never even moved as the dark fox leered over her and unsheathed his claws.

The house was filled with shrill screams, followed by a deathly silence.

 **-O-O-**

 **Another chapter bites the dust. Whew! What a ride this one was. The longest chapter I have ever written so far. It went through a bit of restructuring so I hope this appeals to you.**

 **OK, just one more person for Dark Tails to kill: his ex-girlfriend, Leena Ashley. And then, spoiler alert: he's planning something big; I won't tell you what it is. Now, I'll leave you guessing here: Does Dark Tails kill Leena like he killed the other three? Or will the gang stop him before he strikes? You can let me know what you think either in a review or a PM. By the time I would have posted that chapter, some of you would have guessed right while the rest of you will be disappointed.**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	9. Gruesome Revelations

The once quiet suburb was abuzz with police activity. Flashes of red and blue danced around the street like strobe lights in a disco. Officers milled about the place, disregarding the disturbance and unease their presence was causing.

A car soon pulled up and out stepped Kevin and Ralph. They were promptly approached by a mouse officer.

"Give me the details." Ralph ordered.

The officer explained. "Well, I responded to what I assumed was a domestic disturbance. But when I got here, I found the door hanging open, so I went in and investigated. That was when I found the bodies."

"Any idea who the victims were?" Kevin asked.

The mouse shrugged. "Yeah, a family of three called the Larssons. Husband, wife, daughter. All dead. "

Ralph nodded. "This has that black fox's name written all over it... whatever his name is."

The two detectives entered the house, where they were met with an ungodly sight.

In a messy living room, a lioness was lying dead in a dried puddle of her own blood. Most of the blood was thickly concentrated in her midriff area, indicating that she was stabbed there. Her clothes were completely stained with blood.

"It was almost like he gutted her." Ralph muttered with a trace of unease in his voice. Every death made by the black fox always seemed more gruesome than the last. It almost made him fear what the next body he'd drop look like.

With a shudder, the rabbit moved from the lioness' body and focused on the other one.

Near her body by the wall, lay a male lion. He was the one who was bearing the worst injuries: a bloody chest, bloody mouth and lacerations on his neck; most probably the wounds that caused him to bleed out. The lion's shirt was covered in blood that ran down from claw marks in his neck. There was also a splatter of blood on the wall near his body.

"His neck was obviously slashed open." Kevin stated. "And judging by the excessiveness of his injuries, I would say he was the fox's main target. His wife must have gotten in the way."

"Hey, guys... you might want to come take a look at this." An officer called from another room.

The two detectives hurried to the room. Something about the officer's tone clearly indicated that he had found something interesting... or disturbing; they hoped it was the former. When they got there, they were met with one of the most horrifying and gruesome scenes they had ever seen.

Crucified to the wall by broken chair legs, was a very young lioness, no older than five years old. She was hanging a few inches above the floor by her hands, which were pierced through the palms. The pretty yellow sundress she wore was now stained crimson, the blood having leaked from deep cuts in her neck. Her head hung limply at one side, a clear indication that her neck was broken.

Ralph gasped in horror. "My God!" and promptly ran back outside, where the sounds of throwing up could be heard.

Kevin, however, remained. He stared into the girl's lifeless eyes and felt a deep pang of condolence inside him. It seemed the Dark energy was throwing Tails farther and farther away from morality, turning him into a sadistic monster by the second. He could not really believe that Tails would go so far as to do that to a little kid.

The more he stared at her body, the more he started to lose faith in Tails. Maybe the Dark Energy's corruption was starting to become permanent, maybe there was no more hope left for his friend.

Ralph walked back into the room with his face lacking some colour but otherwise, he seemed to have regained his bearings. "OK. Clearly, the husband was the target; he's bearing the worst injuries. Somehow, I believe that the fox's victims have some sort of connection. I'm gonna have the guys at the department do some digging to find out what details the three had in common."

"Yeah. You do that." Kevin answered absentmindedly, his eyes still not leaving the dead girl.

Ralph looked at his partner with concern. "Hey, you alright?"

The wolf snapped out of it. "Yeah. It's just... I can't believe he'd go this far."

"He's a murderer, man. What did you expect?" The rabbit snorted.

 **-O-O-**

" _The Dark fox struck again last night, this time, attacking a family in the suburbs. The identities of the victims have been revealed as Carl, Lisa and Alice Larsson, a pretty regular and normal family. This is the sixth dark fox attack that we know of so far. No one knows why the fox turned his attention to this innocent family, leading the public to wonder: are we all safe? Who is the black fox and why is he committing these murders?"_

Sonic switched off the TV with a sigh. "Every time we fail to find him is another innocent life taken."

"So far, G.U.N. has been unable to locate him. He seems to be very good at keeping a low profile." Shadow said.

Amy still tried to be optimistic. "But we can't just give up. I'm sure we can find him... eventually."

"At least the effects of the Dark Energy are reversible." Knuckles added in a bid to build on Amy's optimism. It did little to lift the mood in the room.

Just then, Kevin came into the room with a sorrowful expression on his face. He saw the equally downcast looks of his friends. "I'm sure you all heard the news."

The all nodded silently.

Kevin inhaled deeply "This time, he truly went off the deep end."

Sonic glanced at him. "What do you mean?"

In response, Kevin reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He tapped at the screen a few times and handed it to the hedgehog. "Take a look for yourselves."

The group huddled around Sonic to get a glimpse of what the detective had to show them. They all gasped at what they saw –even the usually emotionally inept Shadow.

Kevin had opened the picture of Alice Larsson crucified to the wall. He had managed to sneak back to the scene when everyone had left and snapped a photo.

"I- I- can't believe he would do something like that." Amy exclaimed.

"She was only five years old." Kevin revealed. It was getting more difficult to defend Tails' actions now, irrespective of the Dark Energy's influence on him. Of all the murders the fox had committed, this was by far the most heinous. Every time the wolf pictured that little girl, nailed to the wall like some criminal in a barbaric society, did he begin to lose faith in his friend's restoration. She did not deserve that.

"Look, guys, I know you're not gonna like this but I think Tails is lost to us."

The wolf's words had everyone –particularly Sonic and Amy- appalled. To them, giving up on their friend was worse than the murders he was committing.

"How can you say that, Kevin?" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah. Tails is your friend too, man. We don't give up on friends, no matter what." Sonic concurred.

Kevin put up the dead girl's picture again. "Look at what our friend has become, guys."

"Which is why we have to find him, before he kills again." Sonic stressed.

"They're right." Knuckles simply stated.

Kevin sighed in defeat. His job had always made him disregard all sentiment in order for decisions like this to be easier. If your friend is guilty, you arrest them on the spot, regardless of your close history. But Tails was not to be easily abandoned, as evidenced by Sonic's undying loyalty and dedication to him. If the hedgehog was willing to go to great lengths to ensure his friend's recovery then why not him?

"OK, fine. Sorry about that." The wolf chuckled sheepishly.

Shadow, who had been mostly silent, suddenly spoke up. "Have you guys considered what might happen if ECPD found him first?"

The black hedgehog's words hit home. It was the most obvious thing they were overlooking. If the police apprehended Dark Tails first, then they might figure out who he really was. Not to mention they would most surely be unable to get to him once he enters police custody.

"Shadow is right. My partner is getting really anxious about catching Dark Tails. It's almost like an obsession." Kevin added.

"Right. So we have to find him before ECPD does." Sonic mused. "Easier said than done." It was bad enough they were unable to locate the fox on their own. Now to make it worse, they had to find him before someone else.

"Let's just figure out what Tails had against the victims he's killed." The wolf suggested. "I mean, surely there's got to be some sort of history between them."

Sonic suddenly spoke up as a memory crossed his mind. "Well... now that you mention it, Tails used to come home all beat up back when he was at Emerald City General Academy eight years ago. He never really talked about it much but I figured he was being bullied."

It all dawned on everyone else. "So those guys he killed must have been the bullies." Amy concluded.

Kevin nodded. "Yeah, could be. And if he's targeting people that hurt him back then, we're gonna have to figure out who his next target will be." He turned to the group. "You've known him longer than I have. Can either of you think of anyone whom Tails might have a grudge against?"

It was difficult to imagine Tails holding a grudge against someone. He appeared as the kind of person who would just let any unpleasant confrontation roll off his back.

Sonic laughed sheepishly. "Well... to be honest, I can't really picture Tails that way."

"Oh, come on, Sonic, don't be naive." Scoffed Shadow. "It's like I said, Tails may appear sweet and innocent to the simple eye but do not forget he also has his secrets. You may have thought Tails had forgiven and forgotten about those bullies but these murders are proofs that tell us otherwise."

Sonic wanted to lash back but thought it best not to. They had to stay on track and a squabble with the black hedgehog was not going to help with anything. "Yeah but I just can't think of anyone else Dark Tails would want to attack."

Knuckles suddenly snapped his fingers. "What about his ex-girlfriend?"

"OF COURSE!" Sonic and Amy exclaimed at the same time. Amy glanced at the blue hedgehog and blushed.

"Wait, Tails had a girlfriend?" Kevin was trying hard not to guffaw.

"Yes. Leena Ashley. Tails caught her cheating on him. He was hurt so bad afterwards, he was never the same again." Amy recalled sadly. It was definitely one of the fox's most painful memories, one which he tried so hard to forget. Amy blamed the pooch for Tails' disintegration and had often fantasized about barging into her apartment and bashing her to a pulp. But now, if they did not ask fast, Dark Tails was going to do that himself.

"OK, do you know where she lives?" Kevin asked hopefully.

They all shook their heads.

The wolf's face dropped. "Seriously, guys?" He asked incredulously.

"Hey, after she broke up with him, Tails erased every trace of what might remind him of her, including her address. We just thought it best to honour his request." Sonic stated. "Why, I'd be surprised if Tails still remembers where she lives."

"I'm surprised Tails had a girlfriend to begin with." Shadow quipped.

"I'm surprised you and Rouge haven't hooked up yet." The blue hedgehog retorted.

"That's none of your business!" The black hedgehog's eyes flared.

"Can we please focus?!" Amy groaned with frustration.

Kevin brought everyone back on topic. "So, if we find Leena Ashley before Dark Tails, we find Dark Tails."

Knuckles nodded in agreement. "Yeah. But let's not forget, we can't have anyone else know who Dark Tails really is. We have to keep his identity a secret."

They all agreed to that.

 **-O-O-**

Ralph sat in his office, impatiently tapping at his desk.

The door then opened and a rat unceremoniously barged in and shut the door with a loud bang.

"Alright, Hopper, I got what you asked for." He said, tossing a few files onto the rabbit's desk.

"It's about damn time, Ferguson." Ralph picked a file at random and opened it. A student's picture was imprinted on one side, the ECGA emblem on the other.

"Turns out, the murder victims went to the same school together." Ferguson continued. "And apparently, they don't have exemplary permanent records."

Ralph had taken the file of Carl Larsson. He skipped the trivial details and went straight to the school record, which was rather appalling. From top to bottom, most of the sentences started with the same phrase: "Detention for..." followed by the offense. Each offense had a date and judging by their frequency, Ralph could tell the lion was a repeat offender.

He closed the file and tossed it aside and then reached for another. This one was of Henry Gray and it matched with Carl's in terms of offenses and dates committed. Just to be sure, Ralph looked at William Young's and the findings were the same.

"They all have the same offenses and committed them on the same dates. Which means..."

They were bullies. Or troublemakers if you will." Ferguson finished the sentence matter-of-factly.

Ralph grunted and tossed the files back onto his desk. That was when he noticed the fourth file. "Whose is this one for?"

The rat's answer was indirect. "Well, I figured if these guys were bullies, then surely they had a ...regular victim. And we both know who that could be, right?"

Ralph nodded. "The black fox." Then something hit his mind. "Wait, did you figure out his identity?"

Ferguson continued to talk as if the rabbit had not spoken. "So I did a little more digging and I managed to pull out that file."

Ralph opened it and was met with the blue eyed stare of an orange fox. He immediately frowned. "Hey, genius, forgot your glasses at home? This fox's fur is orange."

"It appears _you_ forgot your brain at home." Ferguson retorted. "Read the fox's personal details and prove me wrong."

The rabbit rolled his eyes but decided to humour the rat. He disinterestedly skimmed through the details, not quite focusing... until he found something of utmost intrigue. "Hey... this fox has two tails!"

"Just like the black fox." Ferguson smiled smugly. "So I figured: two tailed fox student, two tailed fox murderer. Coincidence much? I think not."

It was all starting to click into place in Ralph's head. "So, these three..." he pointed to the bullies' files. "...frequently bullied this guy... what's his name?" He mentally laughed to himself. In all the excitement, he had forgotten to check who the fox's name was. Lifting up the file, he read the name. "Aha! Miles Prower. Eight years later, Miles suddenly becomes maliciously vindictive and he dyes his fur black, adopts a very murderous persona and goes on a murderous rampage across the city to satisfy his burning desire for revenge."

"But apparently, the smartass forgot to cover up his most revealing body parts: the tails." The rat sneered.

Ralph was rubbing his hands together "Excellent work, Ferguson. Just like that, the case is practically solved!"

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: Honestly, I can't wait for the next chapter. I ain't gonna tell you a lot, just that Dark Tails meets Ashley in that one. Who knows what he'll do to her? Well, I do and I'm gonna reveal that the next time we meet.**

 **Read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	10. Exterminating an Ex

The elevator doors opened to an unsurprisingly empty hallway.

Not that it really mattered to Dark Tails. He did not want anyone to get in his way when he was out for blood. Especially _this_ blood.

The dark fox was currently in an apartment building. He had come there for one reason only: to kill his ex-girlfriend, Leena Ashley.

The very thought of sinking his claws into her neck and ripping her to pieces was giving him goosebumps. This was the kill he had been waiting for; the one he would enjoy inflicting every step of the way; the one which would give him total satisfaction. A growl of anticipation issued from his throat as he licked his fangs.

Dark Tails pulled out the parchment he had written Leena's address on. "Apartment 42J." He scanned the number on every door he came across. All the numbers ended with a "J", indicating that he was on the right floor. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear what was happening inside every apartment: a switched on TV, conversations he did not care about, couples fighting. None of that mattered to him. It briefly crossed his mind what Leena could be doing in her apartment as of now. Maybe he was going to find her in the same position as before, with another boy's tongue down her throat.

The thought triggered the unpleasant memories of the previous year, when he discovered her infidelity. The whole memory was forever burned into his head.

He stopped when he came at a junction. On one side, the numbers started from 50, going up. On the other side, the numbers decreased from 49. The dark fox grinned. He was getting close.

"49, 48..." He counted down the numbers imprinted on each door, until...

"42J!" He was standing outside Leena Ashley's door.

He could not hear anything happening inside so Dark Tails figured she might be asleep; with that boyfriend of hers. The dark fox could remember as clear as day what the leopard had said about him:

" _Wait, Leena, you're dating this dude?" The leopard asked incredulously. Then he burst into laughter. "Look at him! What's with the two tails? You like your men freaky? You into the freaky shit?"_

Then came the ultimate heartbreaker: Leena's total denial of ever having known him:

" _Um… he's… he's nobody. Just some stalker, I think."_

" _... I told you. He's probably just a stalker. Who needs to_ leave _before I call the police."_

Dark Tails remembered it all, when he stood in this very same hallway, when his heart shattered into a million irreparable pieces.

He had screamed that day. A loud, ear splitting scream that revealed how empty his soul had felt. He currently felt like screaming right now. The dark fox clenched a fist, which was quickly imbued in energy. Charging up a blast, he took a few steps back and fired.

The blast blew the doorknob clean off, with the force of the blast flinging the door open. No doubt the explosion had alerted Leena and or the other tenants.

Dark Tails ventured inside the apartment, straight into the living room. Apart from a few furniture additions, nothing had changed.

That couch was still there.

 _Leena and Leonard furiously making out, their hands roaming all over each other..._

Dark Tails almost screamed as the memory overcame his mind. He clenched his teeth and shook his head in an attempt to expel it. Willing the thoughts out of his head, the dark fox assured himself that this would be the night he would make Leena and Leonard pay.

He walked past the living room and straight into the main hallway. He had been there multiple times when he and Leena were still a couple so he knew exactly where every room was. As he walked through the corridor, he occasionally glanced at the pictures hung on the walls. Back then, the walls were nearly covered with various pictures of him and Leena, in different places, on different dates. Now, all those pictures had been removed, replaced with pictures of her and Leonard.

In every picture that Dark Tails looked at, there was the leopard, with a winning smile, an arm possessively looped around an equally smiling Leena's shoulders, waist or rump. It was as if Leonard was mocking him, every picture a silent taunt, gloating to him. "I stole your girlfriend." And Leena was concurring. "I ain't yours anymore."

The hallway echoed with a deep growl from the dark fox. A flash of red lit his eyes as he unsheathed his claws. _Get this over with. Satisfy your revenge and bloodlust,_ he thought.

Now with a quick stride in his step, Dark Tails marched through the hallway and found himself standing outside Leena's room. At the other side of the door lay his ex-girlfriend, probably with her new boyfriend. Most likely in a very compromising position. What fun it would be to kill them that way.

He could not wait another second.

Dark Tails fired a blast of energy at the doorknob, blowing it straight off. He kicked the door in and turned his vengeful glare straight to the bed.

There was no one there.

"What?!" Dark Tails' eyes widened as he surveyed the room. The bed was perfectly made, untouched. Clearly Leena was not spending the night at her own apartment.

The dark fox hung his head as and bared his fangs in a growl that was threatening to burst out. He saw no reason to hold it in. Raising his head to the ceiling, Dark Tails screamed with rage.

When his anger subsided, the dark fox tried to employ his senses to try and locate Leena. With his sense of smell, he could tell that the apartment had not been occupied for some time.

Dark Tails exited the room, growling to himself. With his target of outlet unavailable, he was going to need something to let out his rage. He figured the pictures would do. Every picture he walked past was assaulted with a vicious swipe of his claws. Pretty soon, every picture of Leena and Leonard had broken glass and claw marks running across them.

But Dark Tails' anger was far from alleviated. The dark fox sat himself on the couch, despite the painful sentiment it carried, and tried to work out his next move.

Glancing at the coffee table, he noticed a laptop atop it. "Hmm. This might tell me where Leena is."

Dark Tails grabbed the laptop and switched it on. After it finished booting, he frowned. The laptop had a password.

"Great." He growled. He had no idea what Leena's password could be. Of all his victims, the pooch seemed to be the one who had luck on her side. The dark fox was just about to break the device in half when a thought crossed his mind. One thing he remembered about Leena was her predictability at setting passwords. No matter how many times she secretly changed her passwords, he always figured them out. This was not going to be an exception. All he had to do was think.

"Let's see... she seems to be under the impression that Leonard and her were meant to be together forever. So..." His guess was a long shot but it was the best he got. If it did not work, he could always try different styles. He typed it in.

Leenaxleonard4ever

Dark Tails held his breath and hit "enter". He was rewarded with the "welcome" message. He was in!

"Oh, Leena, your passwords are still predictable." Dark Tails snickered...

...and scowled once he saw the wallpaper: a picture of Leonard kissing Leena's neck, with her mouth slightly parted. He merely growled at it.

The dark fox went straight for Leena's e-mails and began sifting through her recent chats. Most where uninteresting conversations with her and her friends. Nothing that could tell him of her current whereabouts.

As he neared the end of the chats, he finally found what he was looking for. A conversation with a girl named Cream ultimately revealed where she was:

 **Cream:** I haven't seen you all week. Are you OK?

 **Leena:** Of course I'm OK. I'm currently out of town for the whole week with my special man.

 **Cream:** Oh... OK. It's just that... we don't hang out a lot anymore and... I was hoping we could do some catching up.

 **Leena:** We'll do that when I get back. You can come get me at Leonard's house. That's where I'll be when we get back.

 **Cream:** OK... where is that again?

 **Leena:** Seriously? I saved the address in your phone! Yeesh! Sometimes you act like a real bimbo.

That was all Dark Tails needed to assist him in locating Leena. And what a coincidence: Leena said she had left town for the whole week. Surprise, surprise, the week ended _today!_ "OK. So Leena is returning home today. And this Cream knows where Leonard's house is. I find Cream, I find Leonard's house. I find Leonard's house, I find Leena."

Dark Tails clicked on Cream's name to get a view of her picture. He would need to easily identify her if he was to find her. When the picture popped up, she turned out to be a sweet looking rabbit. But that would not fool him. _That's how Leena looked the first day I met her._

With all the necessary information acquired, Dark Tails turned off the laptop and made his way to the door. As he opened the door, the neighbour opposite Leena's apartment was also getting out.

The elderly looking hedgehog paused when he noticed a stranger other than Miss Ashley exiting her apartment. But when he raised his eyes to meet the intruder's gaze, he gasped. Staring right back at him with piercing red eyes, was none other than Emerald City's number one source of fear: the black fox.

Letting out a high pitched squeal, the hedgehog fell back into his apartment and promptly shut the door.

From the other side, Dark Tails could hear a few locks clicking and panicked breathing as a heavy piece of furniture was pushed against the door. He rolled his eyes. As if that would stop him. He considered bursting into the apartment and slitting the hedgehog's throat. But such a kill would be a waste of time.

Dark Tails grunted dismissively and headed for the elevator, ignoring the sound of another piece of heavy furniture being moved against the door.

 **-O-O-**

Leena Ashley was having the time of her life. Cruising through the open roads in her boyfriend's red E-Class Cabriolet droptop convertible, she felt like the luckiest girl in the world who had it all.

She and Leonard had left Emerald City a week ago and had been cruising from town to town, taking in the wonderful sights each town had to offer. It was the perfect reprieve for the couple, who were finding their monotonous city life to be a bore, hence their weeklong vacation.

"So, where'd you wanna go next, babe?" Leonard asked his girlfriend.

Leena thought for a while. "Hmm... I don't know. Let me check." She pulled out her phone and scrolled and tapped around. "Oh, there's a fair at the next town over. We could go there."

Leonard was a bit reluctant. "I don't know, baby. We might get overexcited and lose track of time. We still have to get to Emerald City before nightfall."

"Oh, please. You and I both know that's not the kind of 'excitement' that makes me lose track of time." Leena smirked suggestively as she squeezed the leopard's thigh.

Leonard almost lost himself -and control of the vehicle- in the moment. "God, Leena, don't do that when I'm driving!" He exclaimed. "Besides, you'll get plenty of that once we get back to the city."

"I can't wait." Leena giggled.

Leonard smiled as he once again turned his full attention to the road, although he often stole a few glances at his girlfriend. After a year of dating, the two considered themselves inseparable, the perfect power couple. Whoever stumbled, the other would be there to hoist them up; whoever was having a bad day, the other was there to lift their spirits. He thought himself the luckiest Mobian in the world to have someone like Leena for a girlfriend.

Even if he got her through ill means.

A squeal of excitement nearly bore a hole in his ear. Leena was pointing her finger excitedly. "There it is, Leonard, that's the fair!"

"Yes, I can see it." Leonard replied impassively.

Fifteen minutes later, they had arrived at the fair. No sooner had Leonard parked the car and locked it, than was he dragged by the arm by his girlfriend.

"Oh, there's so much to see, Leonard." Leena dragged him from one booth to another, never really deciding what to try first. Until she saw something of great interest to her. "Look, Baby. A fortune teller hut. Let's go inside!"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on now." The leopard stood to an abrupt halt. "These people are phoneys, Leena. They're always ripping witless customers off."

"But I wanna see what our future holds, Baby." The pooch pleaded. "Don't you want to find out what I'll future will be like? How many kids we'll have, what they'd look like?"

Leonard sighed when she gave him the puppy eyes. "Fine."

Leena smiled and dragged her unwilling boyfriend into the hut.

As was expected, it was dark and smelled of incense, owing to the few candles burning in the shelves. A small table was in the centre, complete with a crystal ball. Two chairs were on one side. Seated at the other side, was an old, wrinkly owl dressed in a purple overflowing robe.

"Come in, come in." She invited with a shaky voice. "You can find out what the future holds in store for you."

Leena eagerly sat herself on one chair but Leonard remained standing. "You better be legit."

"I assure you, I am never wrong." The owl took a red candle and a box of matches and handed them to Leena. "Light it and hold it closer to the crystal ball."

Leena did as she was told. Once the candle was lit, it emitted a colourful red smoke as well as the smell of incense. The fortune teller moved her hands in circular motions and to the pooch's astonishment, the wisps of smoke moved in sync with her hands. She guided the smoke to the crystal ball, where it rotated around the object like a planet around the sun.

"Once the smoke clears, I will be able to see what the future holds in store for you" The fortune teller hunched over her ball. Once the smoke cleared, she peered at it more closely.

"This ought to be good." Leonard scoffed.

"What do you see?" Leena asked. She could barely keep still in her seat.

"I see... I see..." The fortune teller's face blanched and she reared back with a gasp.

Leena frowned. "What?"

The fortune teller sighed. "You... have been marked for death."

"What?!" Leena shot out of her chair.

"You are being hunted."

"Let me see." Leena squinted her eyes at the crystal ball.

"Only I can see what the crystal ball reveals." The owl snapped.

"Who's hunting her?" That was Leonard. The fortune teller's earlier declaration shocked him enough to start paying attention.

Keeping her large eyes focused on Leena, the owl replied. "One whom she severely wronged."

The pooch eyed her incredulously. "I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't upset anyone."

Leonard backed her up. "Yeah. She's the sweetest girl I have ever met."

The fortune teller pointed a finger at him. "You had a part to play too."

"What?" Leonard glared at her in disgust. "You're crazy. Who could we have possibly angered so much that they would want to come after us?"

"You will figure that out on your own." The owl replied sharply and then reverted back to her calm demeanour. "Now, that will be twenty bucks." She held out her hand.

"We're not paying you anything!" Leena yelled. "I come in here wanting to know my fortune and all you give me is this made up Grim Reaper bullshit?! They should call you a misfortune teller!" She regretted ever coming here in the first place. This woman had just violated what she had believed about fortune tellers all her life. On the verge of tears, she turned around and stormed out of the hut.

Leonard scowled at the fortune teller. "Way to go, you old hag. Now you've upset her." He headed for the door but stopped to leave a last word of resentment. "I hope you go to hell."

The owl retorted. "Be sure to save me a seat coz you're going there first."

 **-O-O-**

It was nightfall at Emerald City.

At the Emerald City University's library, a rabbit rushed out the door, but was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Cream, you're forgetting your books again." An orange striped cat called out from the door, holding two thick books in her hand.

The rabbit, Cream, sighed and went back to retrieve the books, which she added to the other three under her arm. "Thanks, Heather."

"Studying late again?" Heather queried.

Cream nodded. "Yeah. I have an assignment due next week and I would like to get it done as soon as possible."

Heather shrugged. "OK. I suppose you won't be joining us at the party then?"

"That's a resounding no." Cream said over her shoulder as she had already started jogging away. As she entered the open hallway, she ran smack into someone, making her drop her books.

"I'm so sorry, I was in such a hurry, that I-" she did not get far in her apology when a strong hand grabbed her by the arm and hoisted her to her feet. The rabbit looked up and found herself staring into a pair of sea blue eyes.

"Hey, don't worry about it." The blue haired hare she ran into shrugged nonchalantly. He reached down and started to pick her books off the floor before handing them back. "You OK, Cream?"

Cream happily took them back. "Thanks, Ethan." She blushed and looked away. "And yes, I'm fine."

"You seem stressed, Cream. Why don't you come to the party? It will help you relax." Ethan offered with a smirk, whilst reaching out to curl a piece of Cream's hair in his finger.

Cream giggled and batted his hand away. "Knock it off, Ethan. And I already told Heather I'm not going."

"Suit yourself." Ethan shrugged and went on his way but he turned around and called out to Cream. "But if you do change your mind, just give me a holler."

"Don't get your hopes up!" Cream shouted back with a blush. She had always had a crush on the hare ever since she enrolled at the University but had never admitted her feelings to him. But he always assumed he knew, judging by how he always flirted with her.

Pushing thoughts of her crush out of her head, she continued walking through the long hallway.

 **-O-O-**

Whilst seated on a bench a good distance from the open hallway, Dark Tails observed his target conversing with a blue haired hare. He did not care what they were saying to each other but merely waited for the hare to leave the scene so that he could make his move. Granted, he could have just walked up there, broke the hare's neck and confronted the rabbit but he wanted to do this with as little incident as possible.

As soon as the hare left, he saw the rabbit start to jog the opposite direction, clutching a pile of thick books in her arms. Time to move.

Dark Tails flew over to an arch and stood there silently as she ran past him. With his black attire and the lack of good lighting, he was practically invisible to her. No wonder she did not notice him. He called out to her. "Hey, Cream!"

Cream stopped and turned around, a smile on her face. "For the last time, Ethan, I said-" She stopped mid-sentence when she realised that who she was talking to was not the hare.

The figure that called her name stepped into the poor light of the hallway. She gasped in fear when she saw who it was. She had been watching the news and had a pretty good idea who was standing in front of her. Screaming in absolute terror, Cream dropped her books and bolted out of there.

Dark Tails scoffed at the pathetic attempt of escape. He ran after her and caught her up in less than five seconds. Clutching her by the back of the neck, the dark fox threw her to the ground.

Cream lay on the ground, staring into the red eyes of her oppressor. She began to crawl away whilst on her back, using her elbows. "Please don't hurt me. I don't have anything on me. Please." She whimpered.

"Actually, you do." Dark Tails reached down and grabbed her by the arm, roughly hoisting her up, only to slam her onto a pillar. "Leena Ashley gave you the address of her boyfriend's house. I want it."

Cream, however, was completely overcome by fear. She shook like a hypothermic. "Please, don't kill me. I have nothing valuable. Please, spare me." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, dripping onto her collarbones.

Dark Tails had had enough of this. It was getting pathetic. With one hand, he tilted Cream's chin up. "If the next words that come out of your mouth don't involve Leonard's house address..." He unsheathed his claws in his other hand and brought them up to her eye level. "...I'm going to write your name on the floor with your own blood."

Cream sobbed loudly and took a deep breath through her nose -one could really hear he mucus flowing. "My cellphone... I saved it in my cellphone." With trembling hands, the rabbit reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell.

Dark Tails snatched it away and went to the main menu. "Where did you save it?"

"My Notes."

The dark fox tapped on the icon and the app brought a lengthy list of notes. He scrolled through them until he found what he was looking for. "Leonard's home address: 1485, Sapphire Suburbs." No need to write it down, he would remember it easy. Now that that was taken care of, what to do with Cream...

Dark Tails' eyes glowed red and his hand shifted from Cream's chin to her neck. She gasped in horror and her trembling increased in frequency, like she was an earthquake. The dark fox was growling as he bared his fangs and inched ever closer to Cream's face. She closed her eyes tight as she awaited the killing strike...

With a sharp bark, Dark Tails released her, letting her fall to the ground in a heap. He dropped her phone to the ground, the impact forcing the battery case open. The sobbing rabbit crawled against the pillar into the fetal position, trembling out of her mind. She heard a soft footfall and through her tear hindered eyesight, could just make out a dark figure taking to the night skies.

 **-O-O-**

Gone was Leena and Leonard's jovial mood, in its place, a deep sense of foreboding. The couple was on edge during their road trip back to Emerald City.

"You don't think... she was right, do you?" Leena asked out of nowhere. The fortune teller's "misfortune" had got to her the most, considering she used to believe in fortune telling for a long time.

Leonard could not stand to see his girlfriend in anguish like that. "Look, Baby, those people are rip offs, alright? You don't have to listen to everything they say."

The pooch did not appear convinced. "I don't want to believe her, but still... her words carried a certain truth to them."

This drew a scoff of derision from Leonard. "Truth? Leena, please. Have you hurt anyone?"

"No... not that I can remember." She added after some hesitation.

"Then that lady hadn't a clue what she was talking about." Leonard momentarily let go of the steering wheel to grasp Leena's hand. He could feel a lot of tension coursing through her. "Look, you're the kindest, sweetest, most amazing girl I've ever met. You don't have a violent bone in your body and as long as we've been dating, I can't think of a time when you hurt or upset anyone." He felt her relax, so he let her go. "So you have nothing to worry about, OK?"

The pooch felt all her apprehension and tension melt away just by hearing her boyfriend's assurances. "You really have a way with words, Sweetie."

"You know it, Baby." Leonard smirked.

 **-O-O-**

The Sapphire Suburbs, named so because the swimming pools gave off a shimmering shine resembling sapphires when viewed aerially. The suburb boasted upper scale housing and spacious yards. Clearly the people who lived there were well to do.

For the second time in his hunt, Dark Tails felt a sense of injustice that someone who assisted in creating one of the most painful moments in his life could live in such luxury. If he had spent his whole life believing in karma, then he would have felt disappointed. But that was not him. He was a person who believed in getting revenge on his own rather than let the Universe do it for him.

He had often wondered why Leena had left him in the first place; now, he got his answer: apparently, it looked like Leena preferred boys with paper. Since Leonard lived in one of the most exorbitant neighbourhoods in Emerald City, it now came as no surprise why Leena left him. He could not blame her... completely. She was just a girl who made the most stupid decision of her life.

The dark fox landed in the backyard of Leonard's house. Surveying the surroundings, he could tell that the couple had not yet arrived. The house was devoid of life as of now.

 _When I'm done with them, it will be even more devoid of life than it is now... except for the maggots_ , he thought maliciously. With his prey soon to arrive, his murderous instincts were kicking in. He began to fill his thoughts with all the painful and sadistic ways on how he would kill them. Oh, were they pleasurable.

Dark Tails' ears then picked up the sound of an approaching car. They had arrived.

The dark fox licked his fangs and flew to the roof.

 **-O-O-**

Leonard pulled into his driveway. "Alright. We're here."

Leena got out and stretched herself. "Finally! Being cooped up in there for five hours was no picnic."

The leopard moved around the car and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. "How about a nice, relaxing shower, followed by a long sensual massage to help ease those tense muscles?"

Leena spun around and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I would like that very much." She slowly leaned in and tilted her head. Just as their lips were a millimetre away from contact...

"Boy, you two disgust me."

The startled pooch jumped in surprise at the sound of the foreign voice.

Leonard assumed a defensive stance around his girlfriend. "Who's there?"

The answer he got was mocking laughter. "Look at you, trying to defend that wretch of a Mobian. How pathetic."

The leopard looked around but saw nobody else. "Show yourself!"

"Up here."

The couple looked up at the roof of the house. A black figure was casually sitting over the edge; they could just make out his dangling feet.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" Leonard demanded.

The figure stood up and leaped from the roof in the same manner of pouncing. He landed softly on all fours, right on the edge of the driveway. "I've come to meet some old acquaintances." He said as he straightened himself up, his back facing them.

It was then that Leena noticed the two tails. There was only one Mobian she knew who had that characteristic. "Miles?"

The fox turned around slowly and grinned. "Hi, Leena."

But this was a totally different Miles than the one she had dated over a year ago; that Miles was a goody two shoes, nerdy and had a boyish charm and good natured sense about him. Not to mention he had orange fur. As for this Miles, he looked the complete opposite. She started to get the feeling that something about him radiated bad news.

Now, the unfortunate thing for Leena and Leonard was that they had left the city before Dark Tails came to be and they had not been following up on the news whilst on their road trip. So, they had absolutely no idea that the fox standing before them was a brutal murderer.

"Hold on, isn't this that fox that came to your apartment that time?" Leonard asked.

"Yes, but... he looks different." Leena kept staring at the fox.

"I've changed. That sweet, good natured boy you knew last year is gone. And I no longer answer to 'Miles'. I am now 'Dark Tails.'"

Leonard could not hold back a mocking laugh. "So, what? You come here sporting a new look and a new name –which, I'll admit, is super lame- all for what? So Leena can take you back?"

Dark Tails growled. "It's too late for that. She caused me unbearable pain that night. It's only fair I hurt her back in return." He unsheathed his claws. "Only difference is, your pain will be physical." The dark fox began to advance.

Leonard was still unperturbed. "Wow, you could not sound anymore freakier than you-"

 **SCRAAAAATTCH!**

The leopard's eyes widened as the fox raked his claws on his car's side. Three long claw marks now ran from the taillight to the fender. "Hey! That was a brand new paint job!" With a pissed off grunt, he charged at the fox and threw a punch.

Dark Tails merely caught the flimsy blow and countered with a punch of his own, right into Leonard's gut. He doubled over and the dark fox nailed him with a swift uppercut that sent him airborne and had him landing hard on his back right next to Leena.

The pooch helped her disoriented boyfriend to his feet. She decided to confront her ex on her own. "Look, Miles, I don't know why you're here but you just have to understand, a break-up is a break-up. I'm with Leonard now."

"Of course I understand that!" Dark Tails roared in disgust. "You think I'm here to try and convince you to take me back? We're way past that, Leena. The way you hurt me last year, without a care in the world, I could never forgive you."

"So why are you here? To beat me up?" She asked, out of fear than curiosity.

Dark Tails shook his head. "No. Beating up is too good for you. You deserve something more than bruises and broken bones." His eyes glowed red. "You deserve death."

Leena gasped in horror.

Leonard, who had just recovered from his beating, piped up. "You're bluffing."

In response, Dark Tails aimed his hand towards Leonard's car and fired off a blast of energy.

There was a loud explosion as the car erupted into flames.

The leopard's jaw hung open in shock. "You... you... THAT WAS MY MOST PRIZED POSSESSION, YOU ASSHOLE!" He roared and pounced on the dark fox.

Although Dark Tails saw the attack coming, he could hold his ground, for Leonard was heavier than him. He toppled to the ground with the leopard on top of him, who attacked him with a series of punches to his face.

"I certainly am _not_ bluffing when I say I'm gonna kill you!"

Dark Tails felt every punch that landed on his face. They did not hurt; he was merely baiting his opponent into believing he had the upper hand... until he decided to show him who was boss. As the next punch descended onto him, he grabbed the fist mid-strike and squeezed the hand.

Leonard was unable to break free from Dark Tails' grip. Add that to the unbearable pain he felt in his hand, he felt his strength diminishing as he concentrated most of it into his arm in an attempt to free himself. This allowed the dark fox to throw him off, whilst also letting him go. He rolled away and scrambled to his feet.

"Baby, are you OK?" Leena called out, and made to run to him.

"Leena, get inside!" Leonard screamed at her. "I'll deal with him."

Dark Tails smirked. "You really wanna die for her? Be my guest."

Leena obeyed and ran into the house, shutting the door behind her. She could not believe this was happening. Miles was really bent on killing her, all because of that break-up that he said left him devastated...

She remembered the fortune teller's words: "you have been marked for death; you are being hunted; someone you severely wronged." It was all clicking into place now. She had hurt Miles pretty bad when he caught her cheating on him and now, he had showed up to get his revenge: by killing her.

She needed to hide. Call for help.

Outside, Leonard got into a fighting stance and prepared to face off against his opponent.

Dark Tails scoffed at him. "You should know by now that you don't stand a chance against me. Why don't you just give up and I make this less painful?"

Leonard growled and struck. He threw a series of punches, all of which the fox was able to dodge. This went on for a while until Dark Tails grabbed him by the arm and flipped him to the ground. At this point, the leopard had exhausted himself and was finding it tough to get up. That was when Dark Tails grabbed him by the back of the neck and pressed his cheek to the red hot surface of his flaming car. The leopard screamed in pain and flailed his arms in a futile bid to escape. One stray shot had him scratching the side of Dark Tails' face, forcing the dark fox to let him go.

Dark Tails glared at Leonard and advanced on him. The leopard tried to scramble away but was grabbed by his ankle and dragged back. The dark fox spun him around like a hammer thrower and then released him, sending him crashing into the house's door.

The force of the impact almost had Leonard blacked out but he still remained conscious. Raising his head to glance at his opponent, the leopard saw that the fox's hands were glowing red and they were aimed at him. Having already witnessed what happens afterwards, his senses instantly became alert as a surge of adrenaline overtook him. He barely got out of the way as a blast of energy blew his door to splinters. The force of the blast sent him tumbling onto the lawn, along with a few flaming pieces of wood. He decided to arm himself with a longer piece, which had a flame at one end. It was rather flimsy but it was all he had to defend himself

Dark Tails advanced on his fallen adversary. He saw the leopard rise on unsteady feet, brandishing a flaming piece of wood in his left hand. "Look at yourself, man. Do you really think you can use that?"

"Only one way to find out." Leonard growled and advanced, swinging the piece of wood like a bat. Dark Tails rolled his eyes and simply caught his arm mid-strike. With a violent twist of his hand, he snapped the leopard's wrist like a twig.

Leonard screamed in agony, only to be silenced by Dark Tails' hand wrapping around his neck. The dark fox lifted him bodily and threw him into the house through the burning doorway. He skidded across the floor, into the living room, until friction stopped him. He had to find a different way to defend himself. Looking around the room frantically, he spotted a wall plaque with a pair of swords hanging from it. That would have to do. He plucked one sword free; with his left arm rendered useless, he could not use both of them; one would suffice.

Dark Tails followed the leopard into the house, where he was greeted by another pathetic sight of the leopard attempting to defend himself; this time, with a sword. "You must be real desperate to live."

Leonard snarled and attacked with a downward slash. Dark Tails, merely sidestepped the attack and when the leopard spun around for another strike, the fox grabbed his arm and twisted it so violently behind his back, the shoulder dislocated. Dark Tails then grabbed Leonard by the neck and lifted him up. His other hand glowed red and he made a fist. Rearing the hand back, he dealt the leopard a sledgehammer of a punch right in the chest. The sheer force of the punch sent him flying several feet, straight through the glass door that led to the backyard, shattering it to a million pieces.

Breathing had now started to become painful for Leonard; the punch having broken a few ribs and sent the bones into his lungs. He started to cough up blood and his eyesight became foggy. Through the haze, he could just make out a dark figure walking towards him with glowing red eyes.

Dark Tails walked over to the battered leopard, who was struggling to get to his feet. When he finally managed to stand, the dark fox dealt him a simple kick in the stomach that sent him sprawling near the pool's edge. Dark Tails then grabbed him by the hair and lifted him to his feet. Unsheathing his claws, he tilted Leonard's head to one side and slit his neck open.

Leonard let out a strangled gasp as blood poured from his carotid arteries. He staggered back a few paces, before finally falling over into the pool. The water was instantly stained red with his blood.

With Leonard now dead, Dark Tails turned his focus to the climax of his hunt.

"Oh, Leena?" He called out with mock sweetness as he entered the house.

 **-O-O-**

Leena was in total panic. Crouching inside Leonard's closet in his room, she felt like a helpless little girl, unable to defend herself, just waiting for the monster outside to come claim her.

She had never expected this sort of thing to happen to her. After she ended things with Tails, she had completely forgotten of his existence and would have never expected him to return as a black furred, murderous fox bent on ending her life. She did not know what happened for him to end up like this but he made it pretty clear she was his target.

Despite her complete lack of combat skills, Leena still had to do something to defend herself. In the darkness of the closet, she could just make out a wooden baseball bat leaning by the wall. It would have to do.

She heard a loud crash from downstairs. She hoped it was Leonard that was dishing out the beating, although what she had seen from Dark Tails made her think otherwise. Then she heard a splash outside. Afterwards, all was silent.

Her panicked breathing was the only sound she could hear. Maybe she should get out and find out the winner of the fight. After all, she had a weapon to defend herself if the results were not what she hoped. With a trembling hand, she reached for the door to push it.

"Oh, Leena?"

The pooch froze in fear. That definitely was not Leonard. It would appear that the leopard was not victorious in the fight. Losing her nerve, she quickly retracted her hand and willed her trembling to stop.

Her canine hearing picked up the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." He was putting on a fake sweet voice, like they were playing hide-and-seek. "I only want to reunite you with your 'boyfriend.'"

Leena stifled a gasp. So Leonard was dead. And she was next.

"You wanna know one of the many advantages of my transformation?" The footsteps stopped just outside the door. "It allows me to smell your fear." She could hear the door creak open.

Taking a peek through the slits in the closet door, Leena fearfully observed the dark fox as he entered the room and glanced around. She nearly jumped back when those glowing red eyes swept her way.

"You remember when we used to play this sort of game back then?" He walked to the bed and lifted the mattress. "I would look for you all over the house..." He moved to the curtains and ripped them from the rail. "And when I found you..." He glanced at the closet and an evil smile split his face. With his claws unsheathed, he stalked towards it.

Leena knew she had been made. Gripping the bat tightly, she braced herself as Dark Tails got closer and closer to the closet. She wanted to surprise him the moment he opened the door but the adrenaline in her system told her to strike first. With the dark fox's hand raised to open the door, she made her move.

Leaping out of the closet with a barbaric yell, Leena shut her eyes and swung the bat with all her might. It was a wild swing, but she felt the wood solidly connect with cheek and bone. The bat broke at the handle on impact, sending splinters everywhere. Willing her eyes open, she dare to look at what damage her attack made.

She gasped when it saw that it was not much.

Dark Tails currently had his jaw displaced with his mouth hanging open, but he did not look in the least incapacitated. He kept his piercing eyes pinned on her as he reset his jaw and snarled at her.

Leena tried to run awy but Dark Tails was quicker. He grabbed her hand and hurled her straight at the window. Had it not been for the bars, she would have plummeted two storeys to certain injury. But at the moment, that felt like a better fate than staying in the same room with her murderous ex.

Part of her right arm and back were bleeding from striking the glass. She saw the dark fox advance on her and backed away. The lack of an escape route quickly had her pinned to the wall. "Miles... please, don't do this." She sobbed as a tear escaped her eye.

Dark Tails stood over her and knelt to her level. The pooch kept crying her eyes out and saying "please" over and over. It was pitiful but the dark fox felt nothing of the sort. She deserved everything that was coming her way.

"Leena." Dark Tails reached out a hand and... gently stroked her cheek. Initially, she cringed, expecting a violent slap. But no, the fox was gently rubbing the tears away, just as he used to do when they were still dating.

His other hand went to the other cheek, giving it the same kind of attention. "You once made me the happiest fox in all of Mobius." Dark Tails' hands slowly descended, down her neck, brushing stray strands of hair away.

His hands then came to rest on her breasts, fingers gently kneading the soft flesh. By now, Leena's sobs had receded and she found her fear being replaced by something... something she had never felt for the fox in over a year. He slowly brought his face closer to her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her neck.

"But now..." he whispered in her ear, slowly raking his fingers up her breasts. "You are the source of all my pain. And as such... you make me very ANGRY!"

He punctuated that last sentence by simultaneously unsheathing his claws and plunging them into her chest. Leena gasped as she felt her lungs punctured, blood immediately starting to fill them. She opened her mouth to scream was swiftly silenced by the dark fox clamping his jaws on her neck. He slowly applied the pressure and the pooch could feel her throat getting crushed, her wind pipe squeezed shut; even if she could breathe, it would be useless, since her lungs were now full of blood.

Dark Tails smiled as felt Leena's struggling gradually becoming weaker. He also relished the feeling of the blood that filled his mouth. Feeling the pooch give twitch for the last time, he released her, letting her fall to the floor. The sight of the life slowly fading from her eyes filled the dark fox with total satisfaction. Finally, Leena gave a blood spewing spasm and her head fell to the side.

She was dead.

Dark Tails grinned in satisfaction, showing off his bloodstained teeth. His revenge had finally been completed. Lifting his head to the ceiling, he let out a malevolent laugh.

Until a teargas canister whizzed in through the window, spewing gas everywhere.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: End there! Finally, I'm where I wanted to be with the story. Dark Tails has completed his revenge spree, but now, it would appear his fun is not over yet. Who knows what else lies in store for our bloodthirsty fox? (Well, I do actually. You'll all find out in the next... month or so. I'll now have to commit to Conquest for the next weeks. Not to mention college.)**

 **Before I sign off, I'd like to answer to a certain review, asking me to install black comedy into the story. Sad to say, I'm not good at comedy, black or otherwise. I can only poke fun and make jibes. Sorry to disappoint.**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	11. Capture

**I'm back!**

 **-O-O-**

The sudden ringing of the phone pierced the silence of the room.

The operator, a middle aged swallow, answered her phone. "What is the nature of your emergency?"

Her ears were instantly assaulted with the shrill scream of a panicky caller. "Help! Evil! It's right outside!" This was followed by a string of gibberish.

The operator sighed. "Sir, I'm gonna need you to calm down and collect yourself."

The caller took a few deep breaths but then bellowed. "Calm down?! How can you tell me to calm down when there's a mass murderer standing outside my door?"

"Alright, sir, give me your location and we'll send an officer to assist you."

"An officer? Send the whole damn department and a SWAT team!" The panicky caller shouted into the speaker.

The operator almost ripped the earpiece out. "Sir, please stop yelling at me."

The caller ignored her. "What do you expect? I'm scared! I've barricaded my door with most of my furniture but I don't think that's going to stop him. I'm cowering in my closet right now." The shouting was soon replaced by whimpering.

"Alright, Sir, we'll send in a response team. Do you know who it is that might be attacking you?"

"Know him? The whole fucking city knows him!" The yelling returned.

The operator's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Don't tell me it's..."

The caller's voice shook. "It is! The black fox is here!"

 **-O-O-**

Flashes of red and blue illuminated the streets of Emerald City. The only sounds of the night were police sirens as over two dozen police cruisers and two armoured vans sped through the almost empty streets.

Ralph and Kevin rode in the foremost car with the rabbit at the wheel and the wolf riding shotgun. Ralph appeared to be in a better mood, with his free foot constantly tapping at the floor.

Kevin pulled back the slide of his gun and released it –although he was sure he was not going to use it. "So, the caller stated that the black fox is at the Southside Apartment Complex?"

Ralph nodded his head, which had a face radiating pure ecstasy. "Exactly. And this time, he's not getting away that easy."

"I wouldn't get ahead of myself, Ralph. We haven't been successful in our last four attempts. The fox has always been way ahead of us."

Ralph still had his optimistic smile on. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Yesterday, I did a little research into our new friend and guess what?"

"What?" Kevin asked.

"I was finally able to figure out his identity." The rabbit revealed.

Kevin's eyes widened in shock. "How did you-?" He quickly stopped himself. Before he could jump to any conclusions, he first had to at least be sure that Ralph's assumption was correct. Maybe he would have guessed a wrong name. "I mean, do you... have a name?"

"Exactly. The black fox is none other than a young lad named Miles Prower." Ralph stated confidently.

OK, there was no denying that. Kevin tried to keep on a straight face the rest of the journey. "Right... good job."

Actually, the wolf was panicking inside. Keeping Tails' identity a secret was paramount in their hunt for him. The last thing they wanted was for the city to know who he really was.

"Is there anyone else you have told apart from me?" Kevin had to ask.

Ralph shook his head. "No, just you and me know. Oh, and the guy I had dig up this information."

Kevin nodded silently and reached for his phone. He sent a quick message to Sonic: "We have a problem. My partner has figured out who Dark Tails really is."

 **-O-O-**

The tenants of the apartment building were rudely awoken by the rushing sounds of heavy boots in the hallways. Whenever they threw their doors open to confront the noisemakers, they were greeted with the barrel of a semi-automatic rifle in between their eyes, followed by a shout of "clear!" and a stern warning to remain in their apartments and keep the doors locked.

Ralph and Kevin stayed outside the building to let the SWAT do their job. Ralph's radio crackled and the SWAT leader's voice came through. "All clear on the sixth floor. Moving to the seventh."

Ralph responded with a curt "roger" before slumping down on the hood of the cruiser he was leaning on.

Kevin heaved an exhausted sigh. "Obviously he's long gone by now."

Although it was hard for Ralph to admit, he had to face the obvious fact. "But there must be some clue that will give us an idea of who his target is."

Just then, Ralph's radio buzzed. "Hopper, do you copy?"

The rabbit immediately answered it. "Hopper here."

"We found something." The SWAT leader's voice crackled. "One of the apartments on the seventh floor has the doorknob blasted off. We're moving in to investigate."

"Roger that. Proceed with caution."

"Copy."

Ralph turned to Kevin with a triumphant smirk. "And you thought he was long gone."

 **-O-O-**

SWAT silently entered the apartment, their guns raised, ready to fire at anything that moved.

"Keep your eyes peeled, ladies." The SWAT leader, who was a rough looking leopard, warned his unit as held up his thermo camera. "Heat readings are faint. It could have been a while since he came here."

Still, that did not stop them from looking around. "Alright, follow me."

They entered the living room, which was occupied by a few chairs, a TV and a coffee table with a laptop resting on it. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

An open door to the left of the room led to what looked like a dining room and another led to a dark hallway.

The leopard looked at his thermo camera. "I'm getting something. Stay frosty, gents."

He led the way into the dim hallway, which had numerous pictures adorning the walls. As he took a step forward, he felt his boot crunch on something hard and rough. Instinctively, he pointed his gun mounted flashlight to the floor and all the other agents did likewise.

The floor was littered with broken glass.

The leopard then returned the flashlight's beam to the picture frames and saw that all of them had their glass shattered and claw marks running across the images.

The SWAT leader switched on his radio. "Hopper, come in."

The rabbit's response was immediate. "Have you made contact with the suspect?"

"Negative. The place is empty." The leopard heard Ralph groan from the other end. "However, it appears the suspect harbours a deep hatred for this girl."

Ralph sighed. "Pack it in."

 **-O-O-**

"Detective Hopper, this is the tenant who called to inform us about the black fox." An officer approached Ralph and Kevin. She was followed by a rather frightened looking elderly hedgehog.

Ralph nodded to the officer, who took her leave and then turned to the hedgehog. "About what time did you see the fox?"

The hedgehog took a few breaths as he stared off into space. "Well... it was around 7:30 when I was planning to go to my niece's place. When I opened the door, there he was, standing just outside Miss Ashley's apartment." He shuddered as he remembered the moment.

"But he did not attack you?" Kevin asked. He wanted to at least establish some sort of belief that Dark Tails would not just attack anyone who so much as glances at him.

"Um... I don't know. He might have, because I quickly ran back into my apartment and barricaded the door. I think that put him off."

"How long have you been neighbours with Miss Ashley?" The wolf continued.

"She moved in about a year ago."

"Did you ever get a chance to know her better? In a social way." Kevin quickly added, lest the hedgehog interpret the question the wrong way.

The hedgehog shook his head. "Not really but she seemed to be a nice girl. Always smiling... I didn't really see anything bad in her that could warrant an attack from that monstrous fox."

 _I could mention one thing,_ Kevin thought but he did not say it out loud. "Alright. Thanks for your time."

"One more thing." Ralph piped up suddenly. "When you saw the fox, did he... remind you of someone you may have seen before?"

Kevin narrowed his eyes at his partner.

The hedgehog thought long and hard. "Well... now that you mentioned it, there was this other fox I saw here a year ago. He just screamed in the hallway."

Ralph raised his eyebrow. "He just screamed?"

The hedgehog nodded. "Yes. I thought he was crazy at first but when I took a good look at him, I saw that he was rather upset."

"This other fox, did he have any _distinguishing_ features?" The rabbit asked, hoping the hedgehog would give him his most obvious answer.

Unsurprisingly, he did. "Um... yes. The fox had two tails. Just like..." the hedgehog's eyes widened as it dawned on him. "My God!"

Ralph's face broke into a grin. "Bingo!"

"Oh, no." Kevin whispered to himself.

"You don't mean to say that those two foxes... are the same fox." The hedgehog asked.

"Indeed they are, sir." Ralph replied.

Just then, his radio crackled again and a frantic voice called out. "Detective Hopper, Detective Wolfe, come in!"

Ralph snatched it up. "What you got?"

"This is Officer Swanson. I got some news about the potential whereabouts of the black fox."

The rabbit quickly perked up. "I'm listening."

"I responded to a call about a disturbance in the Sapphire Suburbs. The caller said he heard an explosion and when he looked out his window, a car was on fire and his neighbour was being attacked by a figure dressed all in black."

"Give me the address!" Ralph shouted into the radio like a commentator.

"It's a house with a flaming car on the driveway. You can't miss it."

Ralph turned to his partner. "Kevin, have those men clear out and inform them we have pinpointed the suspect."

 **-O-O-**

"There it is!" Ralph shouted excitedly into Kevin's ear as he pulled over to the flaming car.

The wolf merely rubbed his ear against his shoulder in a bid to stop the ringing. "Yes, I can see that."

Nearly every Emerald City cop was on the scene as over fifty squad cars converged on the street, leaving no room for any passing car to go through. They all assumed their positions, taking cover behind their car doors and pointing their weapons at the house.

Ralph stepped out of his car and quickly summoned the SWAT leader. "Agent Samson, confirm. Is the target still inside the house?"

The leopard pointed his thermo camera towards the house. "Hmm... nothing yet— hold on, I'm getting something. Two heat signatures in the top floor, in the east wing of the house!"

Ralph looked at Samson's screen. He could make out two Mobian shaped images completely defined in infrared. One appeared to be lying on the floor, while the other appeared to be standing. As he watched, the standing image lifted its head up.

The entire contingent froze when they heard a gloating laughter come from the house.

"Looks like he succeeded." Samson stated.

"At least he's still here. Let's crash his party."

Samson motioned to one of his agents. "Bring me a teargas launcher."

The agent retrieved the weapon and Samson aimed it at the window he saw the readings come from. He fired off a canister.

Ralph glanced back to the camera. The laughing figure now appeared to be stumbling. "He's incapacitated. Move in!"

Samson immediately started to mobilize his team. "Unit A, gas masks on! We're going in!"

 **-O-O-**

There were many uncomfortable things Dark Tails' body could handle; teargas was one of them. But it was to a certain degree. He could now feel the gas burning his lungs, stinging his eyes. But he could still see; the canister was on the floor, still spraying gas everywhere. He fumbled for it, eventually picking it up and squeezing the nozzle shut.

With his enhanced hearing, he heard the sounds of heavy boots entering the house. They were quickly rushing up the stairs.

In spite of his discomfort, Dark Tails laughed to himself. "How cute. More blood to spill." He licked his fangs at the prospect of adding to his body count. He unsheathed his claws and waited in the gas filled room. Though painful and suffocating, he was willing to endure it in favour of springing a completely unexpected ambush.

 **-O-O-**

"This way." Samson led the way up the stairs and into the upper hallway. In the farthest room ahead, he could see wisps of teargas coming out from under the door. He cocked his weapon and slowly advanced. "Stay frosty, boys. That fox could spring a nasty surprise."

Soon, they all converged just outside the door. The leopard held up a fist and then showed three fingers. Then two... one...

He kicked the door in and shown his mounted flashlight around the gas filled room, ready to fire at anything that moved. Nothing did.

The other agents moved around the room, shining their flashlights around. They instantly fell on a figure lying on the floor near the window. They saw that it was just a female Mobian dog.

Samson was about to order one of them to go check if she was still alive but upon seeing the pool of blood she was lying in, he dismissed the thought.

"Shouldn't the fox be in here?" One of the agents voiced his thoughts.

Before Samson could answer, there was the sound of a low growl. All the agents gasped and pointed their weapons to nothing in particular. The leopard merely scoffed.

"Search the place."

The agents searched the obvious places a person could hide: under the bed, in the closets. But there was still no sign of the fox.

One agent sighed in exasperation. "Is he even in here?"

"That's what the thermo camera indicated." Samson replied.

"Maybe it's faulty."

Before the leopard could snarl a reply, a slight movement in the filled clothes hamper caught his attention. Before he could open his mouth, it was already too late.

The hamper burst like a balloon, flinging its contents all over the room. At the same time a growling fox leaped out of it, arms wide, claws unsheathed. Before the agent could even turn his head, the fox's claws had already struck home, burying themselves in his neck, ripping his carotid arteries asunder.

Samson could only watch wide-eyed as the agent's blood sprayed onto the wall and some of it onto the fox. When the fox turned his eyes to them, the leopard's iron resolve almost turned to mush when he beheld the eyes: blood red, showcasing nothing but a deep bloodlust.

"Light him up!" He ordered.

The room was instantly lit up in flashes of gunfire as every agent opened fire on the fox. Unsurprisingly, they had as little luck as anyone else who tried to kill him.

Unhindered by the bullets ripping into him, Dark Tails laid into the hapless agents. He either struck with his claws or blasted at whoever moved with his energy. In less than a minute, the sound of gunshots diminished and was replaced by the sounds of screaming and pain.

It was just one of those merciless massacres that would have even the strongest men begging for mercy. Some of the agents within the dark fox's reach had lost their fighting spirit and were begging for mercy, only to have their necks snapped or slit open, heads crushed or blown to bloody bits.

It only took the silence to make Samson realize that he was the only one left alive in the house... with the dark fox.

The creature stared at him with red, unblinking eyes, growling silently but menacingly. Samson gulped but willed himself not to tremble. In that moment of raw terror, he could not count anyone else in existence, apart from himself and his enemy; the rest of the world, his crackling radio, his racing heartbeat, his rushing breath. A memory flashed through Samson's mind as he remembered his days at the academy, training to prepare himself for whatever threats a SWAT agent was sure to face. This, of course was none of those threats. This was an unprecedented level he was never prepared for. It was an impending battle that the leopard was sure to lose. But he was not just not going to roll over and accept defeat. With luck, he could defy the odds.

The leopard pulled out a Bowie knife and advanced on the fox.

Dark Tails then spoke to him for the first time. "Pathetic."

"Only one way to find out." Samson retorted in a voice that was contrasted how he felt inside. With a yell, more out of fear than determination, he charged at the fox, who charged right at him.

Although Samson was nowhere near as strong or fast as the fox –as he had vividly witnessed- he was relying on his experience in hand-to-hand combat. When the fox was close enough to be engaged, he struck an upward slash with his knife.

As he had hoped, the fox dodged to the right and Samson capitalized with a spin and a raised elbow. He felt it connect solidly with the fox's jaw. When he turned around, the fox was staggering back, shaking his head. The leopard took advantage and raised his knife. Bringing it down with all his might, he drove the blade deep into the fox's neck. Thinking him injured enough, Samson stepped back, expecting the fox to slump to the ground.

Instead, the fox merely wrenched the blade out and bent it like it was wire. He then tossed it away and faced the white faced leopard.

"I told you that was pathetic. Now it's my turn."

Rubbing his tails together, they made an unpleasant scraping sound like two swords rubbing against each other. Moving with astonishing speed, he zoomed right in front of Samson, while fanning out his tails.

Samson felt the tip of the tails brush past his abdomen but rather than a soft fluffy feeling, it felt like a knife had slit him open; which was exactly what happened as he looked down. Blood spurted out of his gut and he collapsed to his knees, hands clutching at the cut, which ran across his abdomen.

Dark Tails stood behind his wounded prey and raised his blood covered namesakes. He swiped them across the leopard's neck and watched gleefully as the leopard's head fell off his body.

 **-O-O-**

"Unit Leader, what is your status?" Ralph frantically yelled into his radio. There was no response, apart from the irritating buzz of static.

The whole squad had been hearing the gunshots and the screaming. Of course they were hoping against all odds that the SWAT team would prevail, albeit with a few casualties.

Ralph was considering sending the other unit inside when he saw movement inside the house. Everyone kept their weapons pointed to the door, too tense to shoot yet too scared to take their fingers off the triggers.

A thumping sound could be heard. Then from the open door, something rolled out. It bounced off the stairs and rolled into the footpath before coming to a rest at Ralph's feet. Upon getting a good look at it, the rabbit saw that it was the decapitated head of Samson. The rabbit recoiled and kicked the head away.

He returned his attention to the house when he heard footsteps coming from inside. In the darkness, he could just make out an even darker figure walking out.

Kevin gasped in shock when he beheld his friend for the first time in a week. This was not the Tails he knew.

The black fox's clothes, hands, tails and muzzle were dripping in blood. His fur was totally ruffled and unkempt. But what were really putting him off were the eyes: looking at them seemed to send a very clear message to any: _you will all die._

Ralph took out a megaphone and brought it up to his mouth. "This is the Emerald City Police Department. We have you completely surrounded. Get down on the ground."

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails stared at the army of cops pointing their weapons at him. He sneered at their pitiful display of dominance. Despite their numerical and firearm advantage, he could clearly smell the fear they were giving off. It gave him strength. It fuelled his bloodlust.

Sheathing his claws and feigning surrender, the dark fox slowly walked towards the group.

"Stop!" The rabbit with the megaphone shouted. "Stop right there! Now get down on the ground!"

Dark Tails raised his hands and got to his knees. He kept his head down so they could not see the smirk on his muzzle.

In an instant, his hands clenched into fists and ignited. He pounded the ground, sending a wave of energy towards the group. It hit them all with the force of a strong wind, knocking them to the ground. A few squad cars that were parked in front were sent on their sides.

A few officers had started to pick themselves up but the dark fox was already on them. He snapped the neck of one, slit another's and slammed a third's head into the concrete so hard, the skull cracked. The others who were quick enough were on their feet and firing upon him, again to no effect.

Dark Tails quickly grabbed the pistol of one cop and squeezed the muzzle shut so when he fired, the gun exploded and mangled his hands. His screams of pain were instantly silenced when the dark fox snapped his neck back. Another cop then had her chest blown open and the third attacked with his nightstick, only to have it wrenched from his hand and get bit in the neck.

A teargas canister hit him in the cheek, fell to the ground next to him and began to spew out its contents. Dark Tails saw a SWAT agent holding the teargas launcher and preparing himself for another shot. Even though the dark fox could endure the gas, he was not looking forward to doing it again.

Dark Tails flew right at the agent just as he had readied himself and fired off another shot. But the fox's reflexes were quick. He grabbed the canister before it could even travel an inch from the nozzle and batted the agent's weapon aside. He then grabbed the agent by the neck and ripped his mask off. Forcing the agent's mouth open, he shoved the canister in just as it started spewing the noxious gas. The forceful shove broke some of the agent's font teeth and dislocated his jaw as his eyes watered and he coughed violently. His breathing soon became laboured and he collapsed, dead.

Just then, more rounds began to rip into him. He saw that another group of SWAT agents and the other officers were advancing on him. Rather than kill them one by one, he instead charged up his hands and fired bolts of energy at the cars nearest to them. The vehicles' explosions took a few bodies with them and the sound of the agonized screams of the survivors filled the air.

Dark Tails chuckled sinisterly to himself.

 **-O-O-**

The explosions sent Ralph, Kevin and a few other officers to the ground.

Ralph quickly scrambled to his feet. Things were definitely looking bleak for them but luckily, he had an ace up his sleeve.

 **-FLASHBACK-**

Samson was overseeing the other SWAT agents' preparations. "Make sure you pack enough ammo, boys."

"One would think we're going to face an army." One agent quipped and for the right reason as well. The teams were packing enough ammo to storm the palace.

There was the sound of the door opening. Ralph entered the room and motioned for Samson to follow him outside. The leopard nodded and followed the rabbit.

"Is something the problem?" He asked.

"No." Ralph shook his head. "Listen, I was informed that earlier this year, SWAT was trained in the use of certain advanced weapons and-"

Samson cut him off. "Hold on there, Hopper. Those weapons haven't yet been approved by the Government."

"I know that." Ralph pressed. "But you and I both know that we're going to need a hell of a lot more if we're gonna stand a chance against the black fox."

Samson still protested. "But, Hopper, we could get fired or arrested if the Government finds out."

This brought a scowl out of the rabbit. "Are you really considering going into battle while at the mercy of this country's bureaucracy? People are dying. All our men might be next if we don't take this risk."

Samson had to admit Ralph made a compelling point. "Come with me."

Ralph followed the leopard down an empty hallway and they came at a door with a keypad lock. Samson entered the password and opened the door. He went in and flicked on a light.

"Take your pick."

The rabbit's eyes widened at the sight. There was a whole host of advanced weapons, ranging from hand grenades to RPGs. Of course they were all still in their cases.

"The military's got nothing on this."

"Hurry the hell up!" Samson hissed sharply.

One particular weapon caught the rabbit's eye. "Hmm, this one looks like it could do some serious damage."

Samson's eyes gleamed, in spite of his inhibitions. "Yeah... that might work."

The rabbit grabbed one end of the case. "Help me with this."

Samson grabbed the other end. "Let's hope the boys are on board with this."

 **-O-O-**

Ralph yelled to a SWAT agent who was sent flying into the rear door of the van. "That's it, I'm stepping it up! Bring out the heavy weapon!"

"But, Sir, you know that weapon has never been used before! We don't know what sort of harm it may cause!" The agent tried to protest.

Ralph gestured to the battle and the agent was just in time to see the fox rip an officer's head clean off with his bare hands.

"We can find out tonight. And I see a worthy test subject."

The agent nodded and called two other agents to him. They hopped inside the back of the van and returned carrying a long case between them. One of the agents snapped the case open, revealing the weapon. It bared slight resemblances to a bazooka, only that it was longer and had more complex controls.

One of the agents hoisted it onto his shoulder whilst the other two started to power it up.

"Readying charge." One agent declared as he pushed a few buttons on the weapon.

Ralph noticed a setting on the weapon that read "charge power". "Set that to maximum."

The agent wanted to protest but another agonized scream from his dying comrades made him think against it. He pressed an "up" button next to the setting and a bar began to fill up; he kept pressing until the bar was full and the weapon emitted an audible hum.

With the weapon ready for firing, the agent carrying it looked through its sights and aimed it towards the fox. But there was another problem: the fox was not standing still.

"Try to get him to stand still!" He shouted.

The other agent pulled out a flash grenade and threw it at the fox; he was too distracted with choking the life out of an officer to notice.

The grenade went off, showering the fox in a blinding flash of light. It stunned him enough to make him drop the officer, rub his eyes and most of all, remain still.

The agent aimed, got a lock on him and took the shot.

A ball of electricity shot out of the weapon's muzzle and went straight for the fox. It scored a direct hit square into his back. The force of the blast sent the fox shooting forward like a stone from a slingshot until he crashed violently into a tree in another neighbour's yard. All the while, he was enveloped in a blue haze of electricity and was screaming and thrashing wildly as a lethal electric current flowed through him. Finally, he gave one last jolt and lay still.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Ralph did not know that he was holding his breath. He did not even notice that the entire group had gone silent and was now staring at the smoking heap of unconscious fox.

"Is he... dead?" Kevin asked, barely audible. He had remained a shocked and frozen figure from the moment Dark Tails had started to attack them, only now finding his voice once the fox was finally stopped. He was still incredulous that his friend had become such a monster but had just witnessed firsthand how deep an influence the Dark Energy had on the fox.

"Someone... go check his pulse." Ralph ordered.

Most of the agents were too scared to approach the unconscious fox even when they had their weapons trained on him. One bold cop however, a vixen, went over to the fox and slowly knelt over him.

He did not move.

This emboldened her further and she slowly picked up his limp hand.

Still he did not move.

She pressed her thumb to the fox's wrist. Her eyes widened and she gasped. "He still has a pulse."

"Shall I hit him again?" The agent who fired the weapon asked Ralph.

"NO!" This was from Kevin. He realized his unnecessarily loud reply had nearly the whole group staring at him. He quickly thought of an explanation. "The plan wasn't to kill him. It was to capture him. And we've done that."

"Hmm, you're right." Ralph concurred with the wolf. "I'm also curious to why he suddenly showed up and began causing such a stir in our city." He turned to the remaining SWAT agents. "Tie him up! We're taking him to the station."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: It feels good to be back! And now that I'm finished for this semester and pretty much the whole school year, I guess you can say I'll be posting regularly (if I don't suffer any blocks). Thanks for being patient with me.**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	12. Interrogations and Explanations

Until now, there was never a time when Kevin disliked his job. Whenever he put a criminal away, it was because they deserved it. The only feeling he got after locking up a criminal was that they did what they did with their conscience still intact.

Tails was a different story. He was possessed. He was under the influence. The real Tails would not kill someone because they had oppressed him or broke his heart in his past. These were all the doings of a dark force occupying Tails' mind.

Now, all Kevin had to do was convince Ralph and the police chief of that. Easier said than done.

Right now, the wolf was with Ralph and the police chief, a stone faced gorilla. They were on their way to the holding cell where Dark Tails was being kept in.

"So you fired a thousand rounds at him and still couldn't bring him down?" The chief asked incredulously.

"That's right, Chief Johnson." Ralph nodded his head. "We had to use the heavy weapon to bring him down but even that didn't kill him."

The chief grunted. "Be that as it may, Hopper, I still cannot come to terms that you secretly went behind my back and used an unapproved weapon."

"My apologies, Sir." The rabbit said, his eyes downcast.

"But I would say it was worth the risk. After all, it did help in bringing down the most dangerous murderer to ever walk the streets of Emerald City. Though at a great cost: we lost a lot of brave men and women out there. Let's hope this son of a bitch is worth his body count." Chief Johnson gestured to the files he was carrying in his hand.

Kevin stayed silent the whole time. He was still debating with himself inside his head on whether to break it to them now or wait for Sonic and the others. After they had tied the unconscious Dark Tails with over fifty feet of chain and loaded him into a van, the wolf had sent a quick text to Sonic, telling him of the fox's capture.

The three reached the holding cell. Chief Johnson peaked in through the glass on the door.

"Is that him?" He asked almost condescendingly.

"Don't underestimate him, Chief." Ralph warned. "That one fox was able to bring wipe out an entire SWAT team and nearly half the force. I'd say he probably underwent some sort of scientific augmentations. Possibly illegal ones."

Chief Johnson unlocked the door. "Well, let's go in and find out."

 **-O-O-**

With a groan that sounded more like a menacing growl, Dark Tails slowly came to. Disregarding the pain he currently felt in his head –it was going to wear off soon anyway- he opened his eyes wide and scanned his environment. He was in a simple four wall room. A mirror covered half of the wall behind him, with a table and the chair he was sitting on the only furnishings in the room. He could tell he was in the police station.

The dark fox tried to stand up, but could not. Looking down, he saw that his entire torso was enveloped in chains, with his hands cuffed behind his back. The chair he was sitting on was bolted to the floor.

Dark Tails scoffed at the restraints. As if that could hold him. "Don't these people ever learn?" He started to struggle with the chains restraining his hands. He could snap them easy but the posture he was in was making that a bit difficult.

Suddenly, his entire body was assaulted by a powerful electric current. His body jerked and writhed in the chair as he screamed, in spite of himself. Then, as suddenly as it started, the current stopped and he slumped back into his chair, panting heavily.

Dark Tails' head rose when he heard the sound of the door unlocking and opening. In stepped a gorilla, a rabbit and the wolf. Dark Tails was not really familiar with the first two but he recognized the wolf easily. It was one of his friends from when he was still a wimpy fox.

The gorilla spoke first. "In case you're wondering what just happened, you just got hit with over fifty thousand volts of electricity. Enough to kill a whole herd of elephants. Yet you still live. " He pointed to the glass. "There are two guards behind that glass keeping an eagle eye on you. If you so much as flinch the wrong way, they'll send a current through you that will make you tap dance like a hyperactive centipede. We attached some live wires behind your chair, though you can't see them."

Dark Tails just stared at him with a fearsome grimace.

The gorilla continued. "I am Chief Keylor Johnson and these two are Detectives Hopper and Wolfe. It is with their efforts that you have finally been brought to justice. Now, on to business."

He dropped the files he had been carrying onto the table. Dark Tails glanced down at them. They were the files of his victims.

"William Young, a worker at the docks. He did not really have much on him but you murdered him."

 _Oh, he had a lot on him,_ Dark Tails almost growled out. But he held his tongue.

Chief Johnson slid another file towards the dark fox. "Henry Gray. Now he's got a lot. A fearsome gang leader in The Rundowns, packing quite the record; I won't go into detail about that. We had been after him for nearly two years and you massacred him and his entire gang in one night. I'll admit I was _almost_ impressed when I heard that. But that's not how justice works."

Dark Tails would have rolled his eyes but kept them fixated on the chief.

"And then comes this fellow." Chief Johnson tossed another file. "Carl Larsson. A successful salesman with a nice family. And you, you murdered them. Even a little five year old girl. And you go ahead and pin her dead body to the wall. What sick man does that?" the chief directed a scowl of his own toward the fox.

The faintest of smiles graced Dark Tails' muzzle. _Keep going. You're nearing the good part._

"I take it you're the kind of sick person who enjoys murdering kids." Chief Johnson threw the last two files he had onto the table. "Leonard Brown and Leena Ashley. Both outstanding college students on their way to a brighter future, a future they will never have, because of you." He stood up straight and folded his arms across his chest. "Now, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Dark Tails could no longer contain it. He started to laugh. It first started off as a small chuckle, which quickly escalated into full blown cackling, with his head facing the ceiling. Then, when he finally calmed down, he looked the chief dead in the eye and said. "I say they all fucking deserved it."

The three cops were taken aback by the fox's reply.

Ralph then spoke up. "What made you want to kill them?" Even though he knew why, he just wanted it confirmed by the culprit himself.

Dark Tails turned his deathly glare to the rabbit. "They had all caused the most painful moments of my life."

"Yeah, I figured that out. William Young, Henry Gray and Carl Larsson. You all went to the same school together, right?" Ralph probed.

Dark Tails remained silent. He just fixed his death glare on them.

"How about Leena Ashley and Leonard Brown?"

The mention of his ex brought an evil smile on the dark fox's muzzle. "She, I enjoyed killing the most. The sounds of her throat as I crushed it, the feeling of asphyxiation as I strangled her, the-"

Chief Johnson growled and pounded the table with his fist. "Were it up to me, you'd be looking at a death sentence right now!"

Dark Tails chuckled. "You should be aware of the fact that I can't be killed by any sort of weapons."

"So I'm told." The chief's eyes narrowed. "What is your secret?"

"It is a power your simple mind can't understand." The dark fox sneered.

Ralph spoke up. "But the 'great Miles Prower' could?"

The dark fox growled. "Miles Prower was the weak part of me!" He said with such vehemence, that another electric current had to be sent through his body to calm him down. After it was shut off, he raised his head again. "I extinguished that weakness. Miles Prower is dead and I am his reincarnation. My name is Dark Tails."

"Right. But when the press ask us to reveal the identity of the 'black fox', we're gonna use your real name." Ralph stated matter-of-factly.

Those words gave Kevin an uneasy feeling.

Just then, an officer came into the room. "Chief, there's a group of kids here to see you."

Kevin instantly knew who they were.

Chief Johnson's brow furrowed. "A group of kids? What do they want?"

The officer took a breath before he replied. "They say they know all about the black fox."

That caught the chief's attention. "Hmm... alright, tell them I'll be with them in a bit."

Chief Johnson and Ralph left first, with Kevin bringing up the rear. Dark Tails called out to him.

"Hey, Kevin."

The wolf stopped but did not turn back; it made him uncomfortable to see his friend like that.

Dark Tails' voice took up an ominous tone. "If I were you, I'd leave the place right now. Coz once I break out of these, I'm not going to give a damn who tries to stop me. Then again, there will be no stopping me."

 _Well, that's cryptic,_ Kevin thought. He turned and eyed the fox. "Is that a warning?"

In response, Dark Tails just stayed silent and glared at the wolf with his piercing, red eyes.

It made Kevin so uncomfortable that he exited the room quickly, shutting the door behind him.

 **-O-O-**

The office suddenly felt stuffed with tension the moment Chief Johnson strode in, later followed by Ralph, with Kevin bringing up the rear.

Sonic's eyes met the wolf's and he seemed to read the question in them: _whatever you plan to say, you better choose your words wisely._

Chief Johnson unceremoniously plopped himself down on his chair, with Ralph and Kevin standing either side of him. He looked like a king flanked with his bodyguards.

The chief raised a bushy eyebrow in an almost mocking fashion. "So, you lot claim to know about this fox, eh? Well, spit it out then!"

The gang had already prepared a well memorised explanation about the origin and behavioural pattern of Dark Tails but the Chief's blunt and aggressive tone seemed to erase their minds. They would have been reduced to stuttering wimps if they opened their mouths.

Eventually, it was Shadow who spoke first. "The fox is not really a dangerous murderer but was rather corrupted."

Ralph spoke before the chief could. "Corrupted, huh? The evidence says otherwise. I'm sure you have been watching the news. So, please do enlighten us. How could he have been corrupted?"

"It's something you would not believe, much less understand." Knuckles said.

Chief Johnson growled. "Look, kids, you're wasting our time, alright? So out with it already!"

The echidna glanced towards his friends, just to check if he had their support. They all gave him slight nods of their heads. He sighed and began to explain. "There are certain Emeralds here on our planet, filled with an ultimate power that grant a select few Mobians special powers. But there are also other Emeralds, which are rare, that corrupt whomsoever touches them."

"So you're telling us that Miles Prower is one of these 'special Mobians'?" Ralph asked incredulously.

"Yes." Knuckles nodded.

Chief Johnson shifted in his seat. "So you mean to tell me that that fox is not really a murderous psychopath? But rather, someone merely corrupted by these so-called Emeralds?"

The echidna nodded. "That's right."

The Chief suddenly burst out laughing. It was a long humourless laugh. "Of all the excuses I've heard, this is by far, the most ludricrous, most farfetched." He turned to the two detectives. "I mean seriously, can you believe these guys."

Ralph sided with his boss. "Really, guys. He might be your friend but he's still gonna have to face the consequences, 'corrupted' or 'not corrupted'." He did air quotes.

"They are telling the truth."

The Chief and the rabbit turned to Kevin, their eyes wide in shock. "What?!" They both gasped.

The wolf had seen this coming and had been debating with himself over the course of the conversation: which side should he take? The side of friendship or the side of work? In the end, he tried to reassure himself that he had made the right decision.

"Wolfe, are you telling me you believe this drivel?" Chief Johnson growled.

"It's true, Sir. I have hung around them a lot to see it all for myself." Kevin said, defending himself and his friends.

"Wait a minute. _They_ are your friends?" Ralph asked, pointing to the group.

"Yes."

Ralph soon pieced it all together. "Then that means..." his eyes widened. "That fox is also your friend?"

Kevin paused for a second but answered anyway. "Yes."

"Then why the hell didn't you say anything?" Chief Johnson bellowed.

"Coz I did not want to help in getting my friend captured. Or killed." The wolf returned with just as much vehemence but was put back in his place by his boss' stern look.

"Oh, and what about all the innocent people _he_ has killed, huh?" The gorilla banged his fist hard on his desk. "Over five years on the force and you still think like a rookie!"

Shadow decided to interrupt. "You can fire him later. Right now, we need your permission to get Dark Tails out of here."

Ralph scoffed. "Excuse me?"

"You should know that as long as Dark Tails is here, no one in this building is safe. You might think you have him under control, but in reality, you don't." The black hedgehog explained.

"He's right, Sir." Kevin spoke up with a slightly timid voice. "Dark Tails warned me himself when we were leaving his cell."

Chief Johnson laughed humourlessly. "Pu-lease. The fox is locked down tight with over fifty feet of chrome hardened chains wrapped around his body. And as a precaution, I had the chains hooked up to electric wires. If he so much as squirms, instant zap!"

Sonic shook his head. "That won't work in the least."

The Chief then angrily stood up. "Alright, kids, that's enough! Come tomorrow, I will be speaking to the press." He glanced towards Kevin and answered a question that the wolf never even asked. "And yes, I _will_ reveal his identity to the public. They deserve a right to know who has been causing all this unrest in the city."

Kevin still tried to protest. "But, Sir, these guys are experts in dealing with this kind of stuff. I'm sure they will-"

"One more word out of you and you will be handing in your badge!" Chief Johnson warned the wolf, who instantly shut his mouth.

Knuckles still tried to reason with the chief. "But, chief, we know people who specialize in dealing with this energy. They can cure our friend."

The gorilla snarled. "That's it! I do not want to hear another word out of you about mystical Emeralds and superpowers. I mean did you even hear yourself?"

The echidna was about to open his mouth, when Shadow placed his hand on his shoulder. "There is no point in reasoning with this simpleton. He would never understand." He whispered just low enough for the chief to not hear.

"Now, if that is all, have a nice day." Chief Johnson said dismissively.

"Before we go, could you at least allow us one thing?" Amy, who was silent throughout, finally spoke up.

The chief seemed surprised when she spoke. He had not even noticed her presence in the room. "And what would that be?"

"Could we see him?" the pink hedgehog asked gently.

Maybe it was her sweet appearance or the appeal of a woman; either way, Chief Johnson found himself relenting. "Very well."

 **-O-O-**

"Oh, my God!" Amy gasped, looking through the glass in the door. The fox chained at the other side looked nothing like the Tails she knew.

"Yeah, he's not a pretty sight, I'll admit." Kevin sighed. He unlocked the cell door and the all five Mobians stepped through.

Dark Tails turned his red eyes to the group that came in. He grinned widely, showing off his bloodstained fangs. "Visitors."

The group had to hold back gasps when they took in their friend's appearance: dishevelled fur, a wild look in his eyes, bloodstained muzzle, fangs and clothes. One could have denied it was Tails. But it was him, alright. The telltale namesakes wagging behind him were proof all the way.

Sonic tentatively stepped forward. "H- Hey, buddy."

Dark Tails simply stared at him and then the others. "You know, I'll admit I knew that eventually you guys were gonna see me like this. I was just too busy killing to even think about this moment."

Sonic was slightly taken aback by this harshness from his friend but knew it was not really him. "Look, Tails, every-"

He was interrupted by a deep growl from the dark fox. "Do not call me 'Tails'. Or 'Miles'. Those names are a reminder of the weak side of me. The side that has now been overwhelmed by darkness."

"I don't believe that." Amy said, stepping forward. "I know Tails is still in there."

Dark Tails rolled his eyes. "Oh, you sound so pathetic, Amy. You think this is one of those movies when the main character is possessed by something evil and his friends start saying things like 'I know you're in there. Fight it!'"He put on a wimpy, high-pitched voice when he said that. "Well, bad news, gentlemen. There is no reaching out to Tails. He is not inside of me but rather, out here. He's just better now."

"Well, 'better Tails'" Shadow stepped in, doing air quotes. "Because of your actions, you're gonna be spending the rest of your 'better days' in prison."

Sonic elbowed the black hedgehog. "Not helping." He harshly whispered. "But you don't have to go to prison. We just have to convince the chief to release you and we can try and cure you."

"Angel Island's scientists are already working on a means to-" Knuckles started before he was interrupted.

"OH, SHUT UP!"

The very vehemence of the words had everyone jumping backwards in shock. Speaking of shock, the guards behind the glass quickly switched on the current, once again hitting Dark Tails with an electric shock.

Kevin made the "cut" symbol to the glass and the current was switched off.

Everyone turned to look at the dark fox. Small wisps of smoke rose from his body but he was still conscious, albeit breathing heavily. Then, he started laughing.

"See for yourselves. In this form, I am invincible! I was hit with enough voltage to kill me. Prior to this, I have been broken, shot, stabbed but I'm still standing. You think I'm just going to give that up? For going back to a life of being picked on, humiliated, hurt physically and emotionally? I am immune to all that!" He cast his eyes at all the shocked faces around him- expect Shadow, who still remained stone faced. "You claim to want to cure me, but _I am cured._ "

They all could not believe what they had just heard. Was their friend this too far gone? Was his mind completely consumed by the Dark Energy, erasing all that was left of the sweet, innocent fox they all knew and loved? It all sounded so disheartening; Knuckles had half a mind to call the scientists at Angel Island who were trying to reverse engineer Tails' machine and tell them to abandon their futile attempts. But when it comes to friends, one does not just simply give up. And that was the case with the gang. They would not rest until their friend was returned to normal.

"Be that as it may..." Knuckles began, "you completed your revenge spree, didn't you? Everyone who wronged you is dead. Why else should Dark Tails exist?"

Dark Tails chuckled, showing off his once-white teeth that were now going on pink. "A very good question, Knuckles. This new form quickly sends out a message to any who would dare wrong me. If they slight me, incense me, or even dare to bump into me, they won't live long enough to say 'sorry'."

"Well, that's gonna be happening a lot where you're going." Shadow retorted.

Dark Tails opened his mouth to snarl a reply but suddenly, he made a choking sound. His eyes went wide and he started to jerk violently in his chair. Once again the paranoid guards turned on the current, adding to his jerking and convulsing.

"Hey, fucking turn that off!" Kevin yelled at the glass.

Sonic and the others dashed towards their friend but did not dare touch him, for fear of getting caught in the electric current.

"I said turn it off!" Kevin yelled again.

"We already did!" Came the reply.

"Then why is he still jerking around?" Amy asked frantically.

"I think he's still doing it himself." Knuckles observed.

The gang all gathered around Dark Tails and watched as his thrashing continued. Then, his eyes suddenly began to glow –not the usual red, but rather, a deep purplish black. Finally, he let out a long, strangled breath and slumped forward, his eyes closed.

For a long moment, no one moved but just stared, wide eyed at the limp body tied to the chair. No one even dared speak until...

"Hey, Kevin, what's going on in there?" One of the guards behind the glass asked.

That snapped Kevin out of his reverie. He blinked and shook his head. "Uh, guys? What just happened?"

Everyone was at a loss of words, until Knuckles finally spoke up. "I don't know, really. I've never seen anything like it. But, if I were to come up with a theory, I'd say that... the Dark Energy has completely overwhelmed his mind."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: I know, I have neglected this story for long. Well, I just moved to my Mom's place and she doesn't really like me staying for long on the computer. That and I was really finding it hard to figure out some dialogue for this chapter. Anyways, this was what I could come up with in these... uninspiring times. I'd definitely say it was a major case of writer's block.**

 **I was planning to add more dialogue but I'll save it for the next chapter.**

 **Anyways, please read and enjoy. Till next time.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	13. A Dark Plan

It was a really long day for Chief Johnson. It started in the now usual way: look for any possible leads on the black fox. When they found the lead, they followed it and ended up getting closer than usual to the fox this time: catching him at his latest victim's house.

Capturing the fox of course was not easy; Ralph was forced to use an unauthorized weapon to bring the fox down. It proved to be a success but at a very significant cost. They had lost a good amount of police officers and SWAT agents, which meant a lot of paperwork and letters of apologies to the families of the deceased. It was very exhausting but with each paper that was printed, Chief Johnson kept saying to himself: "it was worth it."

After interrogating the fox –which did no one any good-, finishing the last of the paperwork and dealing with a bunch of kids weaving a preposterous lie about the fox's supposed origins and mystical Emeralds, Chief Johnson was beyond bushed. He was only thinking about going home and throwing himself onto his bed while his wife massaged his stress away, lecturing him about how his job was taking a toll on him.

So one could imagine the gorilla's reaction when, as he was unlocking his car, was approached by an out of breath mouse, who babbled something about the black fox "falling into some sort of coma."

As of now, Chief Johnson was angrily stomping his way to back to the cell with Kevin and Ralph in tow. "Tell me what happened?" he growled.

Kevin was finding it hard to form a sentence and even harder to keep up with his boss. "Well... um... He seemed to fall into... some sort of a trance."

"Bullshit!" The gorilla snarled. He spun around and jabbed a finger at the wolf. "Ever since your little friends came along with their 'magic emerald' story, you haven't been of sound judgement! Why, you're lucky to still be employed, Wolfe!" He resumed his stomping.

They got to the cell and saw two officers with their guns drawn, pointing them at the slumped fox still tied to the chair. There was an old chipmunk doctor currently checking on him.

"Who allowed that doctor so close to the fox?! Aren't you aware that that's a dangerous murderer?! He could strike at any moment!" Chief Johnson thundered.

"But, Sir, we were just following protocol. You know that we're supposed to give prisoners medical attention if they need it." One of the officers, a grizzly, stated.

"He could be faking it. Manipulating you into letting your guard down and just when you think the situation is normal... WHAM!" The Chief emphasized that last part by slamming his fist into his palm.

Ralph and Kevin walked towards the doctor, who was currently pressing his fingers to Dark Tails' neck.

"Interesting... he still has a pulse but no breath." The doctor stated.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him?" Ralph asked.

The chipmunk opened his bag and pulled out a pair of medical gloves. "Can't really tell. He might be severely dehydrated." Putting on the gloves, he lifted Dark Tails' head up and opened his mouth, all the while, he was muttering to himself, "you would think that he would take the time to at least feed himself during his killing spree." Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a small flashlight and shone it down the fox's mouth.

"Anything wrong there?" Ralph asked, taking a peek.

"Nothing really. Of course his fangs are longer than the average fox." The doctor said. He ran a gloved finger over an upper fang. "And razor sharp too." He then slowly pulled out Dark Tails' tongue and checked it. "He seems pretty hydrated."

"Might have something to do with all the blood he drank" Ralph quipped, pointing to the reddish tints of blood covering the fangs.

"Is he gonna be OK?" Kevin asked with a little bit too much concern. This earned him a sideways glance of disapproval from his partner.

The chipmunk removed his gloves and then opened one of Dark Tails' eyelids. He shone his flashlight at the eye but then suddenly reared back with a gasp. "Funny thing, really: I can't tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell?" Kevin demanded.

"Take a look for yourselves." The doctor said, motioning the two detectives closer.

Kevin and Ralph moved in to see and they too, were taken aback at what they saw.

Dark Tails' eye looked like a swirling, misty sea of purple and black. The chipmunk opened the other and it looked just the same. It was as if one would stick their finger inside the eye and it would just keep going.

"What's going on there?" Chief Johnson came along and beheld the strange sight. "What's wrong with his eyes?"

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like this before. This is unprecedented." The doctor said.

"But is he still alive?" The chief asked.

"I think so. He still has a pulse."

"Alright then. Hopper, a word in private." Chief Johnson suddenly commanded.

Ralph raised an eyebrow but followed his boss out of the room and into his office. Once inside, Chief Johnson shut the door and closed the blinders.

"You don't think that maybe those kids were telling the truth about the fox, right?" The gorilla dropped his voice to a whisper.

Ralph was incredulous. "What makes you say that?"

"Put two and two together, Hopper. You were there during his apprehension. Normal weapons couldn't kill him and that heavy one you used could only knock him out. Maybe those kids really were telling the truth about this fox."

The rabbit rolled his eyes. "Come on, Chief. He probably underwent some sort of scientific augmentations. Or genetic enhancements. We do have scientists capable of performing such complex procedures, after all."

Chief Johnson was still sceptical. "Another thing I just don't get. You identified the fox as Miles Prower and from what you described, he seemed to not possess a violent bone in his body. Then all of a sudden, he's killing innocent people for fun. And that can't just come about with a simple dying of the fur."

Ralph shrugged. "It works for Goths, doesn't it?"

"Stay on point, Hopper!" The gorilla growled. "Prower's friend's said that in reality, he is not as he currently is, but rather a sweet natured fox. Now this 'sweet natured fox' has killed over a hundred Mobians in one week."

"Could be an effect of the enhancements." Ralph suggested after thinking for a while.

"The press will be asking questions tomorrow and you expect me to go with that?" Chief Johnson said in disgust.

"It's either that or magic emeralds. Take your pick, Chief." The rabbit retorted.

Chief Johnson narrowed his eyes but heaved a great sigh of resignation. He walked to his chair and slumped into it. "My wife was right about this job taking a toll on me."

Ralph did not comment on that. He would have used that as a platform to start an entirely different conversation but the chief was never one he could talk to on a nonprofessional level. He decided to veer the conversation back to the horse's mouth.

"So, what's your theory about Prower's condition in there?"

Chief Johnson stood up. "He's a psychopath, a mentally unstable individual in dire need of psychological assistance. The judge will probably send him to an institution for the criminally insane." He then checked his watch. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get home. Before my wife starts calling."

"I concur with you, chief." Ralph said, ignoring his boss' last statement. "I can't begin to imagine the sick, most despicable and horrifying things that are going through Prower's head right now."

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails found himself surrounded in nothing but darkness.

In spite of his enhanced night vision, he could not even see his own hand when he waved it in front of his face. He almost thought he had gone blind but dismissed the thought as small flickers of purplish light started to flicker in front of him.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came out of nowhere and he felt himself falling. Falling through nothingness. He spun his tails to try and stop himself but that did nothing to halt his freefall. The dark fox suddenly found himself overcome with panic. Even when deep down, he knew he might survive the potentially fatal fall in his dark form.

Then there was a flash of dark purple in the distance and the feeling of freefall suddenly stopped. Dark Tails found himself floating in nothingness and could only watch as a purple mist swirled in front of him. Then the mist divided into two and continued to swirl, gradually forming shape until...

Dark Tails found himself staring at a pair of huge, scowling, purple eyes.

He instantly knew exactly who –or rather, what- was currently in front of him.

The Dark Energy itself.

 **-O-O-**

The morning news networks were abuzz with the headlines Emerald City's citizens had been craving to hear:

 **POLICE APPREHEND BLACK FOX KILLER**

 **MURDEROUS BLACK FOX IN POLICE CUSTODY**

 **JOHNNY LAW JAILS BLACK FOX**

" _The Emerald City Police Department last night confirmed that they had successfully apprehended the murderous black fox. The yet-to-be-named fox has been responsible for a string of brutal murders that occurred around Emerald City for the past week, most recently, the killing of young Emerald City University students Leena Ashley and Leonard Brown. Police ambushed the fox outside the victim's house and managed to apprehend him after a brutal struggle that resulted in at least thirty officers and SWAT agents dead and a dozen others wounded. Police Chief Keylor Johnson will be speaking to the press in a few minutes._

The gang were at their hangout, watching the news, ready to hear but also dreading the fate that ECPD might suggest for their possessed friend.

"They are most definitely gonna reveal his name to the public, you know." Shadow pointed out.

"I just wish we could do something about it." Sonic sighed.

"Hey, we tried to warn them about the danger Dark Tails poses. Maybe they'll listen a lot more when actions speak louder than words." The black hedgehog said darkly.

The others turned to him wide eyed.

"You're not suggesting..." Amy began but was cut off by the sound of the door opening and closing. They all turned towards it and were surprised to see Kevin come in.

"Um, Kevin, shouldn't you be at the station?" Amy asked him.

"No way. Dark Tails told me that if he breaks free, he won't care if whoever he kills is friend or foe." The wolf replied.

"See? Kevin gets it." Shadow pointed out.

Amy was appalled. "So, you're just saying we let Dark Tails kill more innocent people?"

"They brought this on themselves and you know it, Amy." Shadow shot back. "We tried to warn them and asked nicely to take Dark Tails off their hands but they were too stubborn to listen."

"As much as it pains me to admit, Shadow is right." Knuckles piped up.

"What?" The pink hedgehog turned to the echidna.

"Yeah, we can't just sit here when we can do something about it." Sonic concurred with Amy.

"We did do something about it. They just didn't consider it." This was from Kevin, who sat himself down on the couch and continued to watch the news.

By then, Chief Johnson had taken his place at the podium and was dronning on about something concerning sacrifice and the brave souls who gave their lives for the capture of the black fox.

"… _and without any further delay, I'd like to call upon Dectective Ralph Hopper, who was in charge of the case."_

Chief Johnson then vacated the podium and the moment Ralph occupied it, he was instantly assaulted with the usual clamour of the inquisitive reporters. He pointed at one in random.

" _Did you figure out the true identity of the black fox?" A female wolf asked him._

"Oh, boy." Kevin muttered.

" _Of course we did."_

" _Can you reveal who it is?"_

 _Ralph broke into a grin. "Certainly. It's the least we could do, considering what he has put this city through. The public have a right to know who it was. The identity of the fox is none other than Miles Prower. A sixteen year old."_

Sonic sighed. "So much for keeping his identity a secret."

 _Another reporter inquired, a hedgehog, inquired. "Certain witnesses claim to have seen the fox exhibit superhuman abilities. Can you tell us how that is possible?"_

 _Ralph seemed to pause and glanced towards Chief Johnson, who shrugged. "Well... we don't really know but we suspect it to be a form of genetic enhancements. This is of course an unprecedented occurrence."_

" _Do you know his motives for committing these murders?" A squirrel piped up._

" _He claims it was revenge." Ralph easily answered._

" _What are the city's authorities planning to do to ensure something like this never happens again?"_

" _Well..." Again, Ralph glanced towards the Chief, who just shrugged. "You'll never know when and where the next criminal will pop up. So for now, we just advise the public to be vigilant." He had clearly had enough. "OK, final question."_

" _If the black fox -Miles Prower- is really as old as you say he is, are you going to send him to actual prison?" This from a fox._

 _Ralph seemed to pause for a while before Chief Johnson took over, nudging the rabbit away from the podium. "We will not be the judge of him but during his interrogation, he showed signs of mental instability. If he is lucky, he'll probably avoid a death sentence but be sent to an institution for the criminally insane. Who knows what dark twisted thoughts lurk in his mind?"_

 **-O-O-**

A normal person would be shaking in fear if they saw what Dark Tails was seeing. But he just calmly stared right back at the huge pair of eyes. They stared right back at him, unblinking. Menacing.

Eventually, the dark fox became bored. "Well? Are you going to tell me why you've brought me here?"

In response, the eyes pulsed and a deep, menacing growl filled the place. Then the eyes once again became wisps of smoke and headed straight for Dark Tails. He found himself unable to move and they hit him full force, right in his eyes.

Dark Tails screamed and for a moment, he found himself blind. Then his vision cleared and he found himself... floating high above Emerald City. But his tails were not spinning and he figured this was just an illusion, a vision being shown to him by the Dark Energy.

Apparently, it was trying to tell him something.

He found himself flying through the air. He flew out of town, towards the west. High rise buildings gave way to lush green fields and small towns far away from Emerald City. It was clear he was moving at hyper-speed for those towns were miles away.

Eventually, he started to slow down when rich fields gave way to a rocky wasteland. The land there was hostile, totally uninhabitable.

"What are you trying to show me?"

In response, he was flown to a jagged mountain with an unreachable cave in its side. Dark Tails was led into this cave and straight into inky darkness. His night vision seemed to have abandoned him and he was completely at the mercy of whatever the Dark Energy wanted to show him.

A purplish light appeared at the end. When Dark Tails squinted his eyes, he gasped at what he saw.

Placed in the exact centre of a tall pedestal, was a Dark Emerald.

Unconsciously, Dark Tails found himself reaching out to touch the Emerald... just before his fingertips grazed the Emerald's surface, he was whisked away, out of the cave. Once again, the dark fox found himself involuntarily flying through the sky. The wasteland was replaced with life; this time it was more country. Farms dotted this side of the land. But he flew over them and headed straight for another hostile wasteland. In the centre of the wasteland was a swamp. Instinctively, Dark Tails covered his nose, knowing the place would stink. But once the need for air overcame him, he let go and took a huge breath... and smelled nothing at all.

He remembered that this was simply a vision. He was not really there. This time, he went down an underground river; he did not get wet, however, nor did he hold his breath. When he surfaced at the other side, another Dark Emerald was placed upon a pedestal.

Once again, he was whisked away and was streaking through the air, flying over civilisation. This time, he was heading straight for a mountain range... which was also surrounded by uninhabitable wasteland. This time, he was taken to the highest peak in the mountain, where he saw a huge hole at the very tip. In he went and once again, he was in inky blackness, until another purplish light shone at the end and seated on another pedestal, was a third Dark Emerald.

"I didn't know there were so many Dark Emeralds on Mobius." He said to himself.

Once again, Dark Tails was whisked out of the cave but this time, instead of being flown to another location, was transported back to Emerald City. But he was higher up than usual, in fact, he was at an altitude in which the air would be so thin to breathe. Then, three purplish black streaks flew out in front of him and took shape –the Dark Emeralds materialized in front of him and fused together to become one pulsing ball of pure Dark Energy. As the dark fox watched, this ball hurtled towards the city like a meteor. It crashed in the very centre of the city.

There was a huge purplish black explosion that engulfed the whole city, bathing it in Dark Energy.

Dark Tails' vision then darkened and the same huge pair of eyes materialized in front of him. The dark fox grinned evilly.

"I now know what I must do."

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails awoke with a huge gulp of air. He found himself back in his cell, tied up to the chair.

"I think it's time I bust out now."

In an unbelievable show of strength, Dark Tails pushed his arms out sideways. The chains wrapped around him snapped like burned rope.

"What the fuck?!" He heard one of the guards at the other end of the glass exclaim. The chair then came alive with an electric current but Dark Tails quickly vacated it. The dark fox then grinned maliciously as he took a nice long whiff of the fear the guards were irradiating. He charged up his hands.

"This is Fox Guard! The prisoner is escaping, I repeat! The prisoner is-" The cop did not get far as a blast of energy shattered the two way mirror and a bloodthirsty fox leaped into the room.

The cops screamed and reached for their weapons, which they immediately began firing on Dark Tails.

Undeterred, Dark Tails approached the first guard **(you decide their species)** and spun around, swiping his tails upwards. He caught the cop right in the wrists, severing his hands clean off. The dark fox spun around again and this time, thrust his tails in, impaling the cop through the chest. Then he lifted the dying body up with his namesakes and flung it toward the control panel they were previously using to electrocute him with. The cop's violent landing broke the controls, exposing some live wires, which electrocuted him.

The second cop tried to run but as he turned for the door, Dark Tails grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him headfirst at the wall. He collided with his forehead and fell to the floor writhing in pain. Dark Tails knelt down next to him, grabbed his head to keep him still while exposing his neck and sank his fangs into the flesh. He felt his teeth collide inside the flesh and wrenched his head back, biting off a huge chunk of neck in the process. A fountain of blood spattered the wall as the cop gave off three jerks, each one weaker than the last until he lay still.

Spitting out the chunk of flesh, Dark Tails rose up and opened the door, where he was encountered a welcoming committee: every cop in the station was standing the hallway, their guns pointed right at him. They did not even have to be told to start shooting; they started firing on their own. Smiling wickedly, the dark fox charged up his hands and advanced on them.

 **-O-O-**

Over the unbearable clamour of the reporters, Ralph's sharp ears picked up the sounds of gunfire coming from inside the station. His eyes widened. He hastily approached Chief Johnson, who was just wrapping things up. "Chief, I think Miles has escaped." He whispered.

Chief Johnson turned to the rabbit with an incredulous look. "What? What makes you think that?"

Before Ralph could answer, the sound of gunfire had increased in volume. This time it was surely heard by everyone else, for the press instantly shut themselves up. Clearly the fighting had gotten closer.

The chief and the rabbit pulled out their weapons and advanced towards the door. But before they reached it, an explosion blew it open, sending them sprawling. Glancing inside the station from their places on the floor, all they could see was smoke but there were the occasional flashes and sounds of gunfire. Not to mention dying screams. Then all of a sudden, a body flew out of the smoke and landed before the pair. It was a dead hawk, with claw marks around his neck and a smouldering hole in his chest.

Footsteps could now be heard coming from inside. Ralph and Chief Johnson aimed their weapons with trembling hands.

Dark Tails presented himself at the threshold of the destroyed door. His eyes were glowing red, his clothes, hands and muzzle dripping with blood. By taking one look at him, all of one's resolve instantly melted away. The reporters knew better than to just stand there snapping pictures. They made a break for it, some running towards their news vans, others just running off wherever, as long as it was not near the fox. A few panicky ones even dropped their cameras.

The dark fox just stared at the pandemonium his mere presence had caused. Then he glared down at Ralph and Chief Johnson, who were lying on the ground, pointing their guns at him but were obviously too scared to shoot, judging by how furiously they were trembling. Granted, he could just walk up and kill them but there were other pressing matters to attend to.

Spinning his namesakes, Dark Tails took off to the sky, thinking malicious thoughts. "This city has no idea what lies ahead for it."

Dark Tails' exit snapped Chief Johnson and Ralph out of their frozen fear. They picked themselves up and slowly made their way inside the station, where they were greeted by the most horrifying of sights.

"Good Lord Almighty!" Chief Johnson exclaimed.

Every inch of the floor was covered in blood and littered with dead bodies.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: And this is where I end the chapter. Dark Tails has been given a task by the Dark Energy itself. I had originally revealed what the Dark Energy revealed but I later erased it as that would spoil the surprise. However, if you are smart, you'll figure it out. You'll find out more in future chapters. For now, read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	14. Funeral

The Emerald City Cemetery was packed.

The remainder of the ECPD, dressed in neatly pressed uniforms and suits, as well as the families of the deceased, were all present in one corner of the cemetery. A few news reporters were also present but they held a revered silence and settled for just filming the spectacle.

More than fifty caskets draped with the Kingdom's flag were positioned over freshly dug graves. Over the quiet sniffling of the mourners, the priest's sombre voice could be heard.

"...and may these beloved men and women, who showed their dedication in protecting innocent lives, find favour in God for their unwavering service and sacrifice to His people."

The priest then walked off the podium, which was then taken up by the Mayor of Emerald City, who was an old reddish brown eagle.

He cleared his throat before he spoke. "First off, I offer my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. The sacrifice your deceased loved ones made for this city will not go unrecognized." He straightened his tie before continuing. "As the Mayor of Emerald City, it is my duty to ensure that the city stays in order. To ensure that you, its citizens, live in peace. But this..." he gestured towards the coffins. "...says otherwise. It says 'I have failed you'. And I have to put that right." The mayor held himself erect. "Never before has this city, or any other city, been plagued by such a killing spree. And I intend for this to never happen again. To the families of the deceased, I promise you that your loved ones' killer will be brought to justice. Which is why, with the ECPD chief's help, I am setting up a task force specifically to hunt down this horrible menace, who has been identified to me as one Miles Prower." He cleared his throat again. "Now, I would like to call upon Chief Keylor Johnson, to say a few words."

The Mayor vacated the podium and Chief Johnson purposefully walked up. "Well, there isn't much to say, except some of those deceased cops and SWAT agents were also like family to me. It pains me to see people who I held dear brutally murdered."

Kevin, who was seated in the front row of the ECPD seats next to Ralph, rolled his eyes. That was a white lie. The chief never really took the time to know any of the officers, except only on a professional level. Seriously, throughout the whole funeral, the wolf neither saw a single tear, nor heard a sniffle from the chief. But then again, he could just be doing it to save face; a police chief cannot be seen bawling his eyes out at a funeral. Or he could simply be living up to manly standards, which include no public showing of emotions and no crying.

Chief Johnson's face hardened as he continued. "Which is why I believe that with the new task force we will set up, Miles Prower will be as good as caught. As of now, we, the ECPD urge you to remain safe and vigilant. That is all."

 **-O-O-**

"Hey, Wolfe! Hold up a second."

With his back turned to Chief Johnson and his hand on his car's door handle, Kevin scowled to himself but the chief did not see. He put on a blank expression and turned around. "Yes, Chief?"

Chief Johnson cracked his knuckles, as if he had stopped the wolf specifically so he could punch him. "I just wanted to let you know that, due to your... friendship with Miles Prower, your judgement might be clouded. So, you will not be joining the task force."

Kevin resisted the very enticing urge to roll his eyes. As if he wanted to join the task force to begin with. He nodded curtly. "Very well, Sir. I _completely_ understand." At that point, Kevin did not really care what the ECPD planned to do to Dark Tails; whatever they would do would only get them killed and leave Dark Tails none the worse, but then again, they would not listen if he told them that. He just wanted to go home and take a nice, long nap. Funerals always left him exhausted.

"Good." The Chief nodded stiffly.

"Is that all?" Kevin asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Yes. You may go now."

Kevin got into his car and drove off without another word. Chief Johnson later walked over to Ralph, who was standing by the cemetery gate, talking up one of the deceased cop's wives. She was a middle aged looking monkey, and her stretched face and dried tears revealed just how much she grieved her loss.

"...yes, Mrs. Ferlund. And once again, I'm very sorry for your loss. Carl was a great cop." Ralph had just finished saying when the chief approached.

"Hopper, a word please." Chief Johnson turned to the grieving monkey. "My condolences, ma'am."

The monkey sniffed back a tear. "Please get him. Get that son of a bitch that took my Carl from us."

Chief Johnson placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, ma'am. We'll get him. Now if you'll please excuse us."

Nodding solemnly, the monkey walked to her car.

"You know, I partly blame myself." Chief Johnson said once they were alone.

"What?" Ralph asked, surprised.

"As a matter of fact, I'd even say we're both guilty." The chief continued ignoring the rabbit's questioning stare.

"Sir, with all due respect but I beg to differ. Even if what those kids said was true, do you really think we should have entrusted the fox to them? I mean what if they couldn't contain him and then he escaped from them?"

"Then he would not have killed over ninety people in the space of eight hours!" The gorilla snapped. Then, he composed himself. "We need to catch this guy, Hopper. And when we do... we must find a way to permanently end him."

"Sir?" The chief was full of surprises today.

"You heard me, Hopper. I mean, even if by some slim chance we caught him and he appeared before a judge, he would probably be given a death sentence anyway. But that won't happen coz he can't be held in any confinement we, or anyone else, put him in. I cannot risk another ECPD massacre."

Ralph was still sceptical. "What will happen when Kevin and those kids find out?"

"We will get them to see the logical side of it all." Just then, the Mayor trotted up to the two.

"Ah, Chief Johnson. I'm glad I caught up with you." The eagle turned to Ralph. "Detective Hopper."

Ralph acknowledged the eagle. "Mr. Mayor."

The Mayor held himself erect as he began to speak. "I won't be long, gentlemen. Just wanted to discuss about the task force we agreed to set up."

Chief Johnson nodded. "Yes. We already decided that Detective Hopper here will be in charge of it."

"Yes, yes. I'm sure he'll be a capable leader." The Mayor said with an air of dismissal. "But as you are no doubt aware, the task force is rather low on resources, given the... tragic circumstances. So, I have decided to take some decisive action."

Reaching into his coat pocket, the Mayor pulled out a document, which he handed to the chief.

"What's this?" Chief Johnson asked.

"A permit." Was the Mayor's simple reply.

"A permit for what?" The chief prodded still.

"For use of the heavy weapons." The Mayor said with a smile.

Chief Johnson's inquisitive look gave way to a broad grin. "Oh! Thank you, Mr. Mayor."

The eagle held up a hand. "Let me finish. The heavy weapons are to only be used by the task force. And only for hunting the black fox... what's-his-name."

"Miles Prower." Ralph mentioned it for him.

"Ah, yes. Him. Do not abuse this power, you two." The Mayor sternly warned.

"We will do our best to make this city safe again, Mr. Mayor." Ralph declared enthusiastically.

"I'm sure you will. Now if you'll excuse me..." The Mayor then walked to his limo, got in and then it sped away.

After he left, the face-splitting grin returned to the chief's face. He brandished the permit. "I believe this will provide you with a good enough edge against Prower."

Ralph nodded."Indeed, Sir. That fox won't know what hit him."

 **-O-O-**

"Oh, for the love of darkness!" Dark Tails yelled in frustration as he threw the marker he was using across the room.

He was back at the Emerald City University, currently in an empty classroom. As a matter of fact, all the classrooms were empty with lessons having been cancelled, owing to the funeral. Of course he should have been flying west, towards the location of the first Dark Emerald. But after he left the police station, a question began eating away at the dark fox's head: how could he possibly spread the Dark Energy over the whole city?

In his vision, all he was shown was the Dark Emeralds coming together to form one big purple ball of light, which crashed in the centre of the city, the explosion spreading Dark Energy everywhere. Unfortunately, he was not shown _how_ he was going to cause said explosion.

That was what made the fox postpone his trip. He had spent the last few days figuring out a means of causing such a powerful explosion.

Using his sleeve, Dark Tails erased a portion on the board he was using. Nearly every inch of the nineteen foot board was covered in complex formulae and equations.

Taking another marker from a box, the dark fox scribbled another set of formulae and equations. All the while, he was muttering to himself. "Hmm... right angled trajectory should ensure maximum impact... terminal velocity should be higher... force times gravity... OK, that's correct..." He kept on writing until the tip of the marker was worn out. Stepping back, he scrutinized his work.

"It all seems OK... except... OH, COME ON!" Dark Tails threw the marker across the room with such force, it broke. "I just can't figure out how to cause a wider blast radius." He erased an even larger portion of the board before taking another marker. He bit off the cap, placed the tip on the freshly erased area but his hand did not move; he just could not figure it out. "Nah, that won't work." He plucked the cap from in between his teeth and replaced it. walking over to a front row desk, Dark Tails plopped himself into it.

"And I thought you would tell me _everything._ Materials, method of distribution." While it most certainly looked like Dark Tails was talking to himself, he was actually trying to talk to the Dark Energy. But ever since the vision, there had been no other contact. "I mean, how can you show me the city irradiated in Dark Energy if you don't know how to..." the dark fox stopped himself. His red eyes shone as an idea flooded his head. He broke out into a face-splitting grin and shot out of the chair. He bounded straight for the board, once again biting off the marker's cap and spitting it away. This time, once the marker started scribbling, it did not stop.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes!" Dark Tails continued to say as he completed every formulae and equation he jotted down. In a few minutes, the board was once again full, but this time, the results pleased Dark Tails. He continued to look it over until he had memorized it. Now, came the most painful part.

"What a shame I have to destroy you." The dark fox said, almost solemnly. In his mind, he knew that this was one very complex scientific equation. It would take Mobius' most brilliant mind –that is not him- over a month to decipher what all those equations and formulae meant. But he was not willing to take that chance.

Charging up his hands, Dark Tails shot blast after blast of energy, incinerating the board. He then stood there and watched as every evidence of the formulae was totally burned up. Satisfied that no trace of it was left, he exited the building. Spinning his tails, he took to the sky.

"The perfect plan to bathe this city in Dark Energy." He said to himself. "But for it to work... I'm gonna need a Chaos Emerald." The dark fox grinned maliciously, licking his fangs. "And I know just who to go in order to get one."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: Well, I'll admit that this is the shortest chapter I have so far written but I also like to think it perfectly sets things in motion for the second part of the story. I had planned to add another scene but I did not really think it appropriate to have that same scene in the same chapter with a funeral... nothing superstitious. Just my planned layout of things to come.**

 **I hope you have fun reading it and are just as excited for the following events. I know I am. I hope your response is warm.**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	15. The Emerald, Or Else

Rouge opened the door to her apartment and stepped in, groaning in exhaustion. "God, I hate training rookies."

Shortly after she left Tails' workshop and returned home over a week ago, she received a message informing her to report to a G.U.N. base in order to train a few new recruits. She downright hated it but being one of the best agents in G.U.N. meant setting an example for the other lesser agents, as well as the newbies. It was exhausting but on the bright side, she got respect and got to be in control, which was what she liked.

Her apartment was dark but she knew her way around it. She walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge and took out a can of soda. As she gulped down the drink, she considered making herself a light meal before taking a much needed shower.

Just as the bat was reaching into a cupboard to get a packet of noodles, her sharp ears perked up as she picked up a rather foreign sound, a sound that was not usually supposed to be there.

It was the sound of another Mobian's breathing.

Someone else was in her apartment.

Most people would have panicked thus displaying their fear but Rouge was an exception. She had broken into a lot of places and had seen a lot of the occupants' different reactions when they realized they were not alone. The ones who panicked would usually end up reaching for their phones and try to call the police, at which time the bat would reveal herself and knock them out. The more level-headed ones who would catch up with her act would play along and take her by surprise. That was the more prudent course of action: she would give her intruder the benefit of the doubt and then catch him off guard.

Even if it meant hurting them. Or worse.

Rouge set the packet of noodles down on the counter and reached for the knife rack. She pulled out the largest knife; all the while her ears were still alert, trying to catch any change.

The breathing was still in the living room. It sounded totally relaxed, as if the intruder were in their own home. But at least it showed that they had not moved from their position.

Rouge still acted natural, using the knife to slice open the noodles. But she knew she was riding her luck a little too much. Pretty soon the intruder would want to make the first move. But not if she moved first.

Keeping the knife hidden at her back, the bat silently moved to the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. She slowly edged her way to the doorless arch that led into the living room, her ears alert to any possible changes in sound. Only the intruder's breathing could be heard. So far, so good. Soon, she stood at the very edge of the arch. Even in the semi darkness, one could still tell when someone was standing under it. Rouge brought the knife out from behind her back and listened.

Still the calm breathing.

Although the darkness left her a bit blind, Rouge, like all bats, relied on her keen hearing to determine the exact position of something or someone, even in total darkness. All she had to do was listen very hard and then she could be able to tell where the intruder was standing.

She held her own breath to listen well. The intruder's own breathing would give their position away. With each breath the bat grew surer of where they might be standing. And made her surer of her aim.

Just as she was getting ready to leap out, the intruder spoke.

"I already know you're there."

With a surge of adrenaline, Rouge leaped out and threw the knife at where she heard the voice come from.

In the microseconds that the knife left her fingers, Rouge thought the voice sounded a tad familiar. To her alarm, the brief thought of killing one of her closest friends flashed through her mind and she would have stopped herself. Maybe using a knife was too extreme.

But to her surprise, there was no pained groan that indicated a direct hit and the bat grew more alarmed that she might have missed her target. That alarm only escalated when the voice spoke again.

"Very impressive. You almost got me there."

Rouge kept her eyes glued to the spot where the voice came from while she felt up the wall for the light switch. When she found it, she flicked it on.

Seating on a recliner was a black furred fox. In his hand, he held up the knife she threw with two fingers, showing that she came just close to nailing him in between the eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" Rouge demanded, immediately getting into a fighting stance.

The fox only grinned. He started to twirl the knife in his fingers. "And I thought you liked these sort of games. You should know coz you played them on me a few times." He stood up.

That was when Rouge noticed the two tails swishing behind him. "Tails?" She stated to relax.

"It's Dark Tails now." The fox said with a growl.

Rouge chuckled to herself. "Dark Tails? Wow, that's so cute." She looked at his new attire up and down. "What's with the new look? Decided to go Goth? I must say it doesn't suit you."

"Enough prattling!" Dark Tails roared.

The bat was still unfazed, in spite of the vehemence in Dark Tails' voice. To her, no matter what Tails called, or did to himself, he was not all that threatening. "Aw, I love it when you get all emotional. It's so you. Now, what are you doing here?"

"You know why I'm here, Rouge."

"Um, no, I don't. Care to share?" Rouge had a pretty good idea why he was there but just played dumb, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

SHING!

Her playful smile disappeared when in the blink of an eye Dark Tails hurled the knife at her. She had no time at all to react but fortunately, the fox missed -though maybe he had intended to miss. The blade buried itself to the hilt into the wall millimetres next to her.

"You're paying for that." The bat said once she found her voice. Though she would never say it out loud, that was rather unnerving, bordering on downright scary.

In response, Dark Tails grinned, showing off his fangs. "That miss was deliberate. My next one won't be."

OK, now Rouge was starting to get a little scared. Tails had just come close to killing her and his words all but confirmed his intentions of wanting to do so. "Um, Tails-"

"Shut up!" Dark Tails barked and this time his voice's vehemence really silenced her. The dark fox held out his hand. "The Chaos Emerald, Rouge. Hand it over."

"So that's what this is about." Despite her growing fear, Rouge still feigned ignorance. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Now, Rouge." Dark Tails snarled.

"What do you want it for anyway? Usually it's Knuckles who comes asking for the Emeralds but something tells me you have your own reasons for coming on your own."

"That's none of your concern. Now, give me the Emerald and I'll see if I can be less rough with you." A wry smile graced Dark Tails' muzzle.

Rouge looked at him strangely and then burst out laughing. "Oh come on, foxboy, that was so corny. Maybe when you're eighteen."

Dark Tails rolled his eyes. Typical Rouge. "I meant I would make your death swift."

"Death?" Rouge's smile disappeared. "Wow, you're really taking this Goth thing seriously. But if you want the Emerald, you're gonna have to be a little bit more persuasive than that."

"I was hoping you would say that." Dark Tails' smiled maliciously. He licked his fangs as he unsheathed his claws. Then he began to advance.

Rouge merely laughed. "OK, this should be go-"

What happened next was so fast, the bat never saw it coming. One moment, Dark Tails was walking towards her, the next he was right in front of her with his hand tightly squeezing her neck. He lifted her up bodily and then flung her at the chair he was previously sitting. Rouge collided with it, sending it falling backwards.

Rouge rolled over onto her back, rubbing her neck and coughing violently. That was when she heard Dark Tails' footsteps approaching.

"Are you ready to tell me where the Emerald i-" The dark fox did not finish his sentence, for Rouge quickly swept her right leg across, kicking his feet out from under him. He fell hard on his side.

Rouge got to her feet. "You should know that your combat skills are no match for mine."

In response, Dark Tails growled and sprang to his feet. He took a swipe at Rouge with his claws but the bat easily dodged his attack. This only served to enrage him some more and he began to slash wildly, with Rouge dodging each time. One particular slash left him wide open for a counter and Rouge exploited. She punched him in the side and when he keeled over, she kneed him in the face. Dark Tails fell to his hands and knees, allowing Rouge to kick him in the side. He curled up into the fetal position, clenching his teeth.

Rouge walked over to him. "Honestly, Tails, I thought you were smarter than this. Risking your well being just for some Emerald."

Dark Tails' reaction completely caught her by surprise. He started chuckling to himself. "Honestly, Rouge, I thought you were more cunning." Suddenly, one of his tails reared up like a snake and struck with its sharp tips. The tail sliced through Rouge's left ankle, drawing blood. The sudden pain had the bat falling over as her leg went weak with the weight she applied on it. She feared Tails -or Dark Tails, whoever- might have sliced her tendon or artery. Maybe both. Moreover, since when did Tails' namesakes become so sharp?

The dark fox got to his feet, his whole body showing no signs of the pain she had inflicted on him. "I thought you could tell when your opponent is playing possum." He reached down and grabbed the back of her neck, yanking her to her feet before throwing her headlong at a wall. Rouge quickly raised her hands to her head to try and cushion the impact. She collided with surprisingly harder force, her hands stinging horribly. Where did Tails get this sort of strength from?

Rouge could hear Dark Tails slowly approaching. She had to think of a way to fool him long enough to escape or call for help, no matter how deeply that might wound her pride; if not, she was literally going to suffer more painful wounds. An idea came to her, courtesy of Dark Tails' own words.

"You know, this could be less painful if you just told me where the Emerald is. I am in a surprisingly good mood tonight and I'm actually considering killing you quickly, if you corporate." Dark Tails said as he stood over her. She was lying on her front, completely motionless. "What? No witty reply?" He asked mockingly when he noticed that she was totally still. He stooped to grab her neck again. "Oh, come on. I can't have possibly killed-"

In a surprising show of speed and agility, Rouge flapped her wings ferociously, bringing herself airborne. Her sudden takeoff had Dark Tails jumping back in surprise and totally unprepared for what came next.

Rouge twisted herself in mid-air whilst extending her right leg, making herself horizontal with the floor. She put all her strength in her leg as she delivered the mother of all kicks to Dark Tails. She felt her foot connect solidly with his left cheek and could actually feel jawbones breaking. It was the kind of kick that would knock out her opponents, while also living them with a broken jaw and missing teeth.

The force of the kick sent Dark Tails sprawling with his jaw hanging open and displaced. Rouge landed with less grace than usual, with her left foot still hurting like hell. The cut was not as deep as she feared but blood was still flowing out. She would deal with it the moment she called for help. Her phone was in the kitchen; she would have to limp there for it.

As she was about to enter, the bat heard a low growl from behind her. She turned around, her eyes wide, just in time to see Dark Tails get to his feet. He put his hands together and fire off a blast of red energy. It all happened so fast, she could not react in time but only with twice the wide eyes as before as the blast nailed her square in the abdomen. The full force sent her flying into the kitchen.

Dark Tails reset his jaw, despite the pain. He moved his tongue around in his mouth and spat out a tooth; it did not really matter as it would grow back in a few minutes. Growling ferociously, he turned to the bat. "You're gonna pay for that." He then advanced towards her.

Lying on the kitchen floor, Rouge clutched at her midsection, feeling like she had been punched in the gut. She coughed multiple times whilst taking deep breaths, with strands of saliva oozing out of her mouth. Looking down at her blouse, she saw that the blast had burnt a hole through it but her skin was still intact, if not a little red. She feared damage to her internal organs but that was the least of her worries.

Scrambling to her feet, Rouge spotted her phone lying on the countertop, right next to her packet of noodles. She limped desperately to get at it but before she reached it, another blast of energy blew it up. She whipped her head toward the entrance and saw Dark Tails standing there with his hands glowing red. In a desperate attempt to arm herself, the bat reached for the knife rack and pulled off the first two knives that came free.

Dark Tails scoffed at her. "You know you can't harm me with those."

Rouge brandished the knives. "Then come and get me."

The dark fox growled as he pounced, claws unsheathed. He took a swipe at Rouge but she ducked and countered with a few slashes of her own. Despite her injury, Rouge was still holding her own, with her martial arts training coming in handy. Dark Tails' attacks were wild and unfocused and she was able to easily dodge them. He often left himself open for a good hit but his reaction time was also very fast, as he would quickly adjust himself before she could capitalise.

One such opening presented itself. Dark Tails made an upward swipe wit both his hands and that left his entire torso unguarded. She thrust with both knives but he jumped and sailed right over her. He landed on the kitchen island and pivoted around, knocking away a flower vase and a fruit basket. He saw Rouge take flight and zip straight for him, knives at the ready. She made a slash for his neck but he stepped backwards. What the dark fox did not count for however, was the bat barrelling into him. Together, they tumbled off the kitchen island and onto the floor. Dark Tails landed on his back, with Rouge's full weight on top of him, knocking the air out of his lungs. Just then, molten pain shot up from his left side.

Rouge had taken the advantage of the stunned fox to stab him in the side. She pressed the other knife to his throat, readying herself for what she thought would be the killing blow. "Don't make me do this, Tails."

Her response was a savage growl. "My name is **Dark Tails!** "

Before Rouge could drag the knife across his throat, the dark fox's eyes glowed red and with a roll, he threw her off him. Before the bat could renew her attack, Dark Tails was already on his feet, the knife in his side removed and tossed away and acting as if nothing happened. He grabbed her by the ankle –thankfully not the injured one- and hurled her like a rag doll, straight at her fridge, the impact denting the door.

"What... happened... to you, Tails..." Rouge groaned out as she struggled to get to her feet. She was suddenly seized by the neck and pressed against the fridge. Dark Tails moved his mouth closer to her ear and whispered.

"I improved myself."

Rouge suddenly let out a gasp as white hot pain shot up her side. She looked down and saw, to her horror, Dark Tails' claws sinking into her side.

The dark fox grinned maliciously as he wrenched his claws out, allowing the blood to flow more freely. Rouge's blouse and jeans were stained crimson in less than ten seconds. Dark Tails then hurled her back into the living room. She collided with a wooden chair, breaking it to pieces.

Rouge pressed her hands to her wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. She struggled to stand as disorientation set in and her vision started to become blurry. Still, she could just make out a black fox coming towards her. When he was close enough, she made one last ditch attempt to defend herself. Flapping her wings weakly, she could only take to the air for a short height before throwing a right kick at her attacker. But it was a weak kick and Dark Tails easily caught her by the ankle. He pulled her down, slamming her into the floor on her back so hard, one of her wings broke.

"You make me laugh with your pathetic attempts to fight me. Don't you get it, Rouge? I am _invincible_. You on the other hand..." with a sharp squeeze, the dark fox shattered her ankle bones, causing Rouge to scream in overwhelming agony. Dark Tails then hurled her at a shelf that held china. Glass and earthenware shattered and a few pieces lacerated the bat's back. She fell to the floor, unmoving but still conscious.

Dark Tails squatted down, an almost sympathetic look on his face. "Look at yourself, Rouge. You're so badly hurt. Probably don't have much longer to live anyway. But the question is, do you wanna go quickly or _painfully_ slow?" He did not expect an answer, so he continued. "I can offer you the former, as long as you make your last breath where you hid the Emerald."

The injured bat mumbled something under her bereft breath.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't get you." Dark Tails said condescendingly as he leaned in closer.

Rouge lifted her head. "Fuck... you."

Dark Tails snarled. "Fine. Have it your way." He stood up and casually walked over to the shelf. Giving it a push, he sent it falling right for the bat, crushing her underneath its weight. All the dark fox could see that was left of Rouge was her legs sticking out from under the shelf.

"Now, if I were a self centred thief, where would I hide my loot?" He knew the Emerald was somewhere in the apartment. He did not think Rouge would hide something as precious as the Emerald elsewhere. She would want to always keep it close. The question was where.

Unfortunately for him, he had just killed the only person who knew. Oh well. He would just have to start looking.

 **-O-O-**

"You have got to be kidding me!" Dark Tails yelled in frustration after he had just finished rummaging through Rouge's closet.

The dark fox trudged back into the living room. "You can hide your slutty lingerie and sex toys in there but not the Emerald?" He vented his frustrations at the bat under the shelf. "Clearly those were things you didn't want anyone to find. The Emerald should have been among them."

Growling to himself, Dark Tails sat down on the couch. "Then again, you wouldn't keep jewellery in your closet. You must have a safe for that... yes, a safe!" He snapped his fingers as he shot out of the chair. "There must be a hidden safe around here somewhere..." the dark fox began to scan the room for any telltale signs of a hidden safe.

"Hmm... based on common situations, people usually have safes behind pictures." He eyed Rouge's numerous portraits on the walls. Most were of herself but some were simple paintings she might have purchased.

In the next few minutes, Dark Tails was pulling down pictures and every time, he was greeted with a wall and not a big, metal safe. He went in every room, ripping pictures off of walls and looking behind them until he stopped at the bedroom. There was only one painting in there, by the bed's headboard. It was a painting of a treasure chest.

"Wow. Very subtle." Dark Tails said sarcastically as he climbed onto the bed, pulled down the painting and threw it aside. This time, he was greeted by the metal door of a safe. "Jackpot!"

The safe was modern, with a keypad lock. But Dark Tails was not in the mood for guessing games. Getting off the bed and stepping backwards, the dark fox charged up his hands with a ball of energy until it crackled with streaks of lightning. Then, he hurled the ball of energy straight at the safe.

He could feel the whole room shake with the explosion. No doubt the neighbours heard it and would start to get suspicious; the fight he had with Rouge was already reason enough to have them knocking at her door and complaining about the noise. Better make this quick.

Luckily, the blast was strong enough to destroy most of the door, leaving a big hole in the centre. As the smoke cleared, Dark Tails peaked inside and his red eyes shone in excitement.

Amongst the various pieces of jewellery, diamonds and rubies, lay the Chaos Emerald. Its soft blue glow was almost hypnotic -but not as hypnotic as the Dark Emerald's glow.

Dark Tails reached in and pulled the Emerald out, disinterested in the other valuables. He brought it closer to his eye, scrutinizing it. It was definitely the real thing.

"Now, time to leave."

The dark fox went back to the living room but instead of using the door, he went for the balcony window. He opened it but before he stepped out, he glanced back at Rouge's broken body. "I wish you could see the glorious plans I've made for this city. What a pity you had to die before that. But I thank you for your contribution. The cause of darkness is entirely indebted to you."

Laughing evilly, Dark Tails spun his tails and took to the sky.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: This chapter now starts off the second part of the story. I'm pretty sure you would have guessed what is going to be happening next.**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	16. Shadow's decision

Even though Kevin was not part of the task force hunting Dark Tails, it did not mean he could not do his job. Right now, he was driving to the scene of a murder.

He found himself back in the Sapphire Suburbs; another killing had taken place at the upper class suburb. A dozen squad cars were parked haphazardly around a perimeter marked with police tape. After getting out of his car and ducking under the tape, he made his way to the scene of the crime.

A young, male, red fox lay dead on the sidewalk. He had multiple gunshot wounds in his chest. A phone with earphones connected lay right beside him.

Kevin had a pretty good idea why this fox was shot and it made him sick to his stomach.

He turned to the cop standing in the tape with him. "Question every resident within a five house radius. One of them should have seen or heard something."

The cop nodded and walked off to relay the order. Just then, an armoured van pulled up and out stepped Ralph. The rabbit was garbed in police armour with the words "Black Fox Task Force" printed across the chest. In his hands, he carried a large weapon which resembled an assault rifle, only that it was larger, looked heavier and had a wider nozzle. He looked like a character from a sci-fi movie but to Kevin, he looked like a total stranger.

Accompanying Ralph were six other Mobians wearing the same armour and carrying the same weapons. They flashed their new Task Force badges and swaggered over to the police tape perimeter, ducking under it.

Ralph stopped when he saw his partner standing by the dead body. "Kevin. What a surprise running into you here." The rabbit offered a smile, but Kevin saw no warmth or friendliness in the smile hence did not return it. He often thought that Ralph felt disappointed or worse, betrayed, that he would choose to stay out of the hunt for Dark Tails. But Kevin still stuck to his principles, even at the cost of his friendship with Ralph.

The wolf offered a half smile. "What's surprising about a detective doing his job?"

"Oh, it's not that. I specifically remember the chief telling you to stay out of anything related to your 'friend'? You know, the one who may have killed that boy..." Ralph trailed off when he beheld the body for the first time.

Kevin's smile turned more condescending. "As you can see, the victim was shot to death. And from what we witnessed, Dark Tails doesn't use guns to kill his victims. So this clearly had nothing to do with him."

Ralph could still not let it go. "Maybe he's decided to start using guns."

Before Kevin could shoot another witty return, the officer he had sent to question the neighbourhood trotted up to him.

"Detective, Wolfe! We found a witness."

Kevin turned away from his partner and followed the cop who was leading him to the witness. Said witness was a middle-aged echidna.

"Good morning, sir. I'm Detective Wolfe of the ECPD-"

"And I'm Detective Hopper, also of the ECPD and head of the Black Fox Task Force." Ralph unexpectedly butted in.

Kevin turned to the rabbit with a scowl. "Hey! I thought we already established that this doesn't concern you."

"You of all people should know that a one of a detective's most sought after evidence is confirmation." Ralph retorted.

The wolf sighed in disgust. He turned his attention back to the echidna. "Could you tell _us_ what you saw?" He said "us" with a great degree of hostility.

"Well, it's more what I _heard_ than saw. I was sitting in my living room, when all of a sudden, I hear gunshots coming from the street. At first, I panic, but then my fear gives way to curiosity. I peek out the window, just in time to see my neighbour, Mr. Stanson..." he pointed to a house. "...running into his house, holding a gun."

Kevin turned to Ralph, a mocking smile on his face. "There's your confirmation, Ralph."

The rabbit did not say a word. He grunted and stomped his way back to his team. "Pack it in, boys. No black fox here."

Kevin turned back to the echidna and shook his hand. "Thank you, sir. You may have helped solved this already." After bidding the echidna a lovely day, he walked towards Mr. Stanson's house.

 **-O-O-**

Mr. Stanson, a red swallow, looked beyond scared as he sat in the interrogation room. That fear escalated further when Kevin walked into the room, holding a few pictures in his hand. He tossed them down on the table, right in front of the swallow.

They were pictures of the dead fox from before.

"Recognize him?" Kevin asked rhetorically.

Stanson could not lie. His scared countenance said it all. "Yes, I do."

"Did you know who he was?"

"It was more like who I thought he was."

Kevin easily pieced it together. "You thought he was the black fox out to get you, huh?"

Whatever cool Stanson had left quickly evaporated. "YES, I ADMIT IT! I KILLED HIM THINKING HE WAS THE BLACK FOX!" he took a few calming breaths before he continued. "Ever since that fox killed those two kids in our neighbourhood, I have been living in fear, thinking he will return to terrorize us. Maybe I'm next! I can't even take out the garbage without arming myself."

"Is that how you killed this boy?"Kevin asked, pointing to the picture.

A tear rolled down Stanson's eye as he nodded. "Yes. I was taking out the trash that evening, when I saw him. It was dark, see, and the streetlights were burned out so I couldn't make him out but he didn't heed me when I told him to stop. He just kept walking towards me. That was when I thought that he was the black fox and I just..." The swallow broke into tears.

Kevin waited for Stanson's sobbing to subside. He did not even offer a tissue. "So after you shot him, you just ran back into your house. You didn't approach the body to inspect it or anything?"

"Well, I did approach him for clarity but I didn't get too close. However, I could just make out the red of his fur to realize that I had killed an innocent boy."

Kevin puffed his cheeks. "Then why didn't you call the police? You know, it doesn't look good for you if we find out this way."

"I panicked, alright? I was scared."

Just then, another cop came in and called for Kevin. He left the interrogation room and Stanson had to wait fifteen minutes before he returned.

"We identified the boy and notified his parents." Kevin had a solemn face as he spoke. "They want to see you prosecuted."

The wolf truly felt sorry for Stanson, as the swallow broke into pitiful sobbing.

 **-O-O-**

" _Panic over the black fox's arrival and killing spree hit a new level last night as a Mr. Theodore Stanson shot an innocent fox in a panic , thinking he was the black fox. No further details were revealed about the incident. The black fox, who was identified as Miles Prower, hasn't been seen or heard from since he massacred the Emerald City Police Department five days ago. This is-"_

Amy turned off the TV with a sigh. "Can't this city go one day without someone getting killed?"

Knuckles shrugged. "Can you blame them, Ames? They're scared. Pretty soon, things like those will become a regular occurrence. Just imagine, every night we'll hear stories of an innocent fox beat up or killed because their attackers thought he was Dark Tails."

"Foxes all over the city would protest. And they would turn against Tails for defacing the fox image. You know, once we turn him back to normal." Sonic tentatively put in.

"Speaking of that, has anyone made any progress in finding him?" Knuckles asked, even though he knew the answer.

Amy shook her head. "No."

Sonic only shook his head.

"How about you, Shadow?" Knuckles turned to the black hedgehog.

Shadow did not hear him. He was currently pacing back and forth, his phone at his ear. Apparently, he did not get the reply he was hoping, for he lowered it and redialled the number he was calling.

"Hey, Shadow. Is something bothering you?" Sonic asked.

"She's not answering." Shadow said, more to himself than the others.

"Who?"

"Rouge!" Shadow almost screamed. "She's not answering her phone."

"Hmm, I can think of a few reasons why..." Sonic said suggestively, winking at Knuckles. The echidna caught his drift and chuckled.

Shadow just ignored him. "She just got back from a training retreat last night. Maybe she's still asleep." He tried to sound calm but he could not hide the concern in his voice.

"Hey, maybe she can help us find Dark Tails. She is a great tracker, after all." Amy suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, sure." Shadow said absentmindedly, his focus completely on the phone in his ear. He lowered it in frustration. "Damn it! Straight to voicemail." He pocketed his phone. "I'm going over there."

"Don't forget to ask for her help!" Amy shouted out to him as he opened the door and sped off.

 **-O-O-**

Shadow reached Rouge's apartment and found the landlord, an old weasel, knocking at her door.

"Hey, is something wrong?" the hedgehog asked as he approached.

"Yes. Some of my tenants had some complaints about the noise coming from Miss Rouge's room. I intend to confront her about it but she's not answering."

Shadow reached into his pocket and produced a key. "She lent me her spare key this one time. Guess I should be glad she forgot to take it back." He unlocked the door and opened it, stepping inside. The weasel followed.

Shadow hollered. "Hey, Rouge, you in he-"

They both gasped at what they saw.

The living room was a total mess. Broken furniture, glass and china lay all over the floor.

"Good God! What happened here?" The weasel exclaimed.

"Rouge!" Shadow was immediately on edge, running to another room, still calling out her name. He entered the kitchen and found a vase and fruit bowl broken on the floor, their contents spread all over.

The weasel stayed in the living room, appalled at the mess, when he spotted something under the felled shelf. It was Rouge's legs, the rest of her trapped under the shelf. "My God! I found her!"

He tried to lift it but his old bones were not strong enough to do it on their own. Luckily Shadow came in and seeing the situation, rushed in to help. The addition of his younger, stronger arms was enough to lift the shelf off the rest of Rouge's body. The weasel grabbed Rouge's ankles and pulled her out from under the shelf, allowing Shadow to let it go safely.

The hedgehog knelt down, cradling the bat's broken and bloody body close to him. "Rouge? Rouge! Wake up!" His usual calm and collected voice was thick with sorrow. "Rouge, come on. Please don't die. Come back please." Tears started to escape his eyes.

The weasel already had his phone to his ear, calling for an ambulance. "This is an emergency..."

 **-O-O-**

Sonic, Amy and Knuckles had rushed to the hospital as soon as Shadow informed them about Rouge. After asking for directions, they found the black hedgehog sitting on a waiting bench, right next to an operating theatre.

Shadow looked totally worried as he just sat there, staring at the floor. The rest of the gang joined him.

Amy made the first compassionate move. She gently took Shadow's hand in hers. "It's going to be OK."

Shadow could only nod, still staring at the floor.

"So, how long have they been in there?" Sonic asked, pointing at the theatre.

"About two hours now." Shadow's voice was heavy, barely audible.

"She's going to make it, OK?" Amy reassured the black hedgehog. She squeezed his hand in a supportive gesture, one which he seemed to welcome, for his hand also returned the squeeze. But he kept staring at the ground, overcome with grief. A single tear fell out his eye and onto the floor.

Sonic noticed it and was about to open his mouth to comment about it, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

Knuckles shook his head at him. "Now's not the time, dude."

He knew that whatever Sonic said would be taken the wrong way and it would cause Shadow to make an even bigger scene than he was already making. This was the most emotional they had all seen him get. To see him shed tears over the wellbeing of his closest friend and tease him about it would spark a fierce response, one which would probably end with the exchange of a few blows. That was the last thing they needed right now.

They all waited in silence until the theatre door opened and a female mouse doctor stepped out. Shadow slowly stood up and approached her.

"How is she?"

"She is stable." The doctor replied. "She lost a lot of blood and suffered multiple fractures in her right wing and a shattered right ankle. There was also some glass in her back and her left metatarsal artery was partially severed. Fortunately her tendon wasn't touched. But overall, she'll live."

Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"We'll be moving her to a room to rest. You can see her in there." With that, the doctor went back inside the theatre.

 **-O-O-**

The only sound in the room was the beeping of the life support machine.

Shadow silently sat in a chair, staring at Rouge's unconscious body lying on the hospital bed. Her broken ankle was casted and propped up at angle. An IV tube was inserted in her right arm, replenishing her lost fluids. Her chest rose and fell with each breath she took, an oxygen pipe taped under her nose.

Sonic, Amy and Knuckles joined him in the room. They glanced at Rouge's body, then at Shadow.

"What did the doctors say?" Sonic asked.

"She'll be OK. Nothing she suffered was permanent." Shadow answered, his eyes never leaving Rouge.

"We can... keep you company if you want." Amy offered, even though she knew the answer. She figured Shadow would be more accommodating with his emotional window currently open.

But no. Emotional or not, he was still the same loner Shadow. "No, that's not necessary. You guys are needed elsewhere."

"Oh. Right. Finding Dark Tails." Knuckles piped up suddenly. In the situation they had completely forgotten about their main objective. "Come on, guys. Let's go." The echidna turned and left the room.

"Please let us know if she wakes up." Amy pleaded before following Knuckles out.

Sonic stayed behind. "Look, Shadow, I know you and I haven't really had the best of friendships, or whatever you might call it, but know that I'm here for you, OK?"

"Yeah, sure." Shadow mumbled.

That was probably the only reply he would be getting so Sonic turned around and headed for the door.

"Uh..."

Both hedgehogs whipped their heads to the bed.

Rouge's lips were moving.

In a flash, Shadow bolted up and stood at her side. "Rouge! Rouge! Can you hear me?"

"Tai..." Her voice was barely a whisper.

Sonic had zipped up beside Shadow. "What did she say?"

"Tails..." Rouge uttered out, before she went silent again.

"Did she say Tails?" Sonic wondered.

"Tails? Wait a minute." Shadow's eyes widened in as it dawned on him. "How could I not have figured it out?" His surprise was replaced by rage. He slowly clenched his fist.

Sonic noticed the enraged look on Shadow's face. "Um, Shadow?"

"I should have realized it a lot sooner." Shadow said, more to himself than Sonic.

"Realized what?" The blue hedgehog dared to ask.

Shadow looked Sonic dead in the eyes. "That Tails is now beyond saving."

"What?!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow stomped out of the room and into the hallway, closely followed by a bewildered Sonic. "I've been so naive, thinking that there is an ounce of Tails left in there to save." The black hedgehog muttered.

"That's because of the Dark Energy!" Sonic almost shouted. A few doctors and nurses eyed him strangely.

Shadow rolled his eyes but kept walking. "Yes, yes, I know. And how long has it been in him, huh? Two weeks now! That's long enough for it to become permanent."

"You don't know that."

"Neither do you!" Shadow spun around and yelled in Sonic's face, bringing the blue hedgehog to an abrupt stop. The scene they were making was gathering an audience. "You're thinking with sentiment rather than logic."

"And you're letting your vindictiveness cloud your mind." Sonic shot back.

"It's not clouding my mind. It's clearing it, finally making me see the solution." Shadow walked to an elevator and pressed the "down" button.

Sonic grabbed the black hedgehog's hand. "Shadow, don't-"

In the blink of an eye, Shadow wrenched his hand free and used it to shove Sonic hard, the blue hedgehog falling backwards onto the floor.

The elevator opened and he stepped in. He turned around and glared at Sonic, who stared back at him, leaning back on his hands.

"I'm gonna find Dark Tails. And when I do..." the doors began to close. "...I'm gonna kill him."

The doors closed, separating the two hedgehogs.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: First off, a word of apology to this story's fans for not updating it in over two months. I got sidetracked with my other stories and a severe block in April. I hope this chapter makes up for it. It definitely adds more grist to the mill. Provided I don't suffer another block, you'll find out more soon. So stay tuned!**

 **Please read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	17. Emerald Hunt (It Begins)

**A/N: The following chapters will concentrate more on the fantasy genre of the story.**

 **By the way, I read a certain review coming from a guest, who suggested I stop this story and that my parents should intervene. I got news for you: stay the fuck out of here if you don't like the story! Go do something else!**

 **-O-O-**

After flying for most of the day, Dark Tails' namesakes had finally given up on him, forcing him to walk. He had left the city immediately after dealing with Rouge and had been flying since that night, leaving Emerald City. After spending the night in an abandoned shack on the city's outskirts, he had continued his journey since that evening, never stopping to rest... until now.

The dark fox found himself on a stretch of highway leading to a town in the distance. And further up the town, he could just make out the mountains from his vision. Occasionally glancing toward it gave him motivation to press on, despite his aching tails. Eventually, they became too much.

He was too tired to run and had to settle for walking. A car would occasionally pass him but no one seemed to be in the Samaritan spirit of picking up an exhausted hitchhiker.

After ten minutes of walking, Dark Tails saw that, to his annoyance, the town did not seem to be getting any closer. That and he had been running on fumes. He had been so focused on his mission he did not realize how hungry he was. The growling in his stomach was a cruel reminder that he still required a normal Mobian's sustenance, despite his abilities. The Dark Energy would probably keep him from dying of hunger but it would not make the hungry feeling go away.

"Screw this. Next car that comes by, I'm killing the driver and stealing it." Dark Tails said to himself when his legs could not take him any further. He sat down by the roadside and waited. It was also a good way to rest and regain some energy for the killing.

As the sun set and nightfall began to creep in, Dark Tails saw a pair of headlights coming his way. Coincidentally, the car was also heading in the direction of the town. _What luck_ , he thought as he stood up, smacking the dust and dead grass off his jeans. As the car drew closer, Dark Tails saw that it was an SUV and the only occupant was the driver.

The dark fox unsheathed his claws, readying himself for the kill.

But as the SUV neared, it started to slow down. The indicator was switched on and the car pulled up a few feet in front of him. As Dark Tails approached the vehicle, he saw that the driver was a hedgehog. A red one **(you were probably thinking it was gonna be Shadow. Sorry but it's too soon for Shadow and Dark Tails to clash)**.

Dark Tails presented himself at the passenger seat window. The hedgehog took a good look at him and offered a friendly smile. _He doesn't know who I am._ It would seem that word of his murderous excursions had yet to leave Emerald City.

"You heading into town?" The hedgehog asked.

"Yes." Dark Tails gave a straight answer.

The hedgehog unlocked the door. "Great. Hop in."

Dark Tails opened the door and unceremoniously entered the vehicle. He did not so much as utter a "thank you" but the hedgehog did not seem to mind as he pulled back into the road and continued on towards town. Although Dark Tails was fully prepared to kill for transport, the hedgehog's act of kindness seemed to quell his bloodlust... for now.

"So, where are you from?" The hedgehog asked.

"Emerald City." Dark Tails gave an honest answer. He figured the hedgehog did not know about the chaos that had been befallen the city and that _he_ was the cause of it. However, if he did hear about it and figured out who his passenger really was, then the dark fox _would_ be forced to kill him.

Luckily for the hedgehog, he was ignorant about the city. "That's nice. I prefer the open country. More land and less people to worry about."

Dark Tails remained silent, not even giving a hum of acknowledgement. He figured the hedgehog would take the hint that he wanted the trip to be a silent one, lest he say something to set the dark fox off.

"So, what brings you to these parts?" He just couldn't shut up.

Dark Tails went with a veiled answer. "I am in search of rare jewels."

The hedgehog chuckled. "Around here? I highly doubt you'll find anything of the sort in this town."

"The jewel I seek isn't in the town. Rather, it's up there." Dark Tails pointed to the mountain he was journeying to.

The hedgehog's eyes widened in shock. "You can't be serious! That mountain is treacherous! Hell, some even say it's haunted by, and I quote, 'dark forces'. No one who has attempted climbing it has ever returned."

The dark fox's eyes flashed a shade red as he gazed at the daunting peak. "Believe me. _I will_ return."

The hedgehog shrugged. "Oh well. If you wanna go n a suicide mission for the sake of some jewel, then be my guest. Who am I to stop you?"

The conversation ended there and neither made any attempt to restart it. That was when Dark Tails realized that was his first normal conversation since his transformation. It did not end in a threat or a dead body. Why should it? The guy was aiding him in his dark cause by giving him a means of transport when he was exhausted. In some way, the hedgehog was unwittingly expediting his dark quest.

It was almost a twenty minute drive before they finally arrived at the town. Dark Tails saw a sign that revealed its name: Erich. Pop 33,000. There were a few people still milling about, even though it had gotten dark out.

They approached an open diner and the sight of it reminded Dark Tails of his hunger. "You can drop me off right here."

"OK." The hedgehog obliged, pulling over at the curb. "Good luck."

Dark Tails grinned broadly, showing off his fangs. It was more scary than warm. "Thanks." He opened the car's door and hopped out. He shut the door and the hedgehog drove off.

"OK. A quick meal before I continue my journey."

 **-O-O-**

The diner was almost empty, with just two separate people inside. A flat screen TV was mounted on the wall broadcasting a news channel that no one seemed to pay any mind to. Dark Tails sat himself at a booth in the far corner, far away from the others. He picked up the menu and browsed its contents. There was not really much to choose but what was offered would still be satisfying.

An elderly cat approached him with a plain smile. "Good evening, young sir. May I take your order?"

"Yes. Give me your meatiest dish. And pile more meat on it. You hear?" Dark Tails ordered.

The waitress was clearly taken by surprise by the fox's boorishness. "Um... OK. You want a drink to go with that?"

"Yes, a soda. And make it snappy!" The other customers glanced in his direction, clearly appalled at his behaviour.

The waitress jotted down his order and hurried into the kitchen.

As Dark Tails waited, he occupied his time by taking out the Chaos Emerald he had pilfered from Rouge and examining it, holding it in between his thumb and index finger. "You will merely serve as the power source. The Dark Emeralds I seek are the real prize."

He glanced towards the mountain the Dark Emerald was located. Just looking at it put him in a sort of trance. He could practically feel the Dark Energy beckoning him to it. The Dark Energy that was currently in his body sort of gave him a sixth sense for sensing more. And there was no denying that he was on the right track. A growl of satisfaction rumbled from his throat.

The dark fox was broken from his reverie by the waitress, who had returned with his food and drink. She set the plate and bottle down, muttered a quick "enjoy" and scurried away from him. On his plate were a small salad, mashed potatoes but those were buried under five pieces of steak; what Dark Tails really wanted. He picked one up and took an enormous bite out of it. Like a wild animal, he growled as he chewed. The other diners gave him a few stares of disgust but he paid them no mind. But if they said or did something stupid directed at him, then they might find themselves his next meal.

 **-O-O-**

Flashes of red and blue shone into the diner. Two police cruisers pulled up in the diner's parking lot and out stepped four officers: a bear, a dog, an otter and a mouse. They entered the diner and sat themselves at a booth opposite Dark Tails.

The same waitress came out to serve them but this time, her smile was warmer. "Evening, Sherriff, officers. Do you want the usual?"

"You know it, Debra." The sheriff, who was the bear, replied with a chuckle.

The cat walked off to the kitchen.

"You know, Sherriff, I've been thinking. We're wasting our talents out here." The dog grumbled.

"I agree. Nothing exciting ever happens in this town." The mouse concurred.

"Joe's right. The only exciting arrest I made today was a drunk peeing in public." The otter pointed out.

The Sherriff chuckled. "Come on, boys. Being a cop in a small town has its advantages. For example, the crime doesn't kill you. But a cop in the city... now that's dangerous."

The otter scoffed. "Pff. You sound like my mother."

As they waited for their meals, they turned their attention to the TV.

" _For over a week, Emerald City has been a city living in fear. A murderous black fox, identified as Miles Prower, stirred the city into panic with a series of murders in the space of six days. Police were able to detain him but he later broke out of police custody and massacred nearly half of the Emerald City Police Department two days ago. He has since gone into hiding but police believe he may have fled the city. Just this afternoon, they put out an all points bulletin to the city's surrounding areas. If you have seen Miles Prower, do not hesitate to contact the nearest police station. He is considered to be very dangerous, and some say nearly indestructible."_

A video of Dark Tails appeared on the TV. It was of when he busted out of the ECPD. Then a snapshot was taken of him, and his face was given a close-up. The cops stared at it.

"And that..." the Sheriff pointed to the screen. "...is why the city is so dangerous"

"Um, Sheriff?" The dog nudged the sheriff and subtly pointed to the diner opposite them. "I think that's him."

The sheriff took a good long look at the fox and his eyes widened. "Well, I'll be darned. It is him!"

"Shouldn't we get him?" The otter reached for his gun.

"But they said he was indestructible." Joe, the mouse pointed out.

"Come on, Joe. You know the media likes to exaggerate the news." The otter took out his gun, stood up and approached the fox.

 **-O-O-**

Despite their whispering, Dark Tails could clearly hear what they were saying. But he kept on eating, paying the approaching otter no mind.

The officer stood over him. "Alright, buddy, are you gonna come quietly or are we gonna have to hogtie you?"

Dark Tails looked up at the cop. "If you wanna live to arrest another peeing drunkard, you'll leave me be."

The otter laughed. "Sorry, buddy, but that's not how the law works. You're a wanted man and we bring you in."

The dark fox's eyes flashed red. "You're just begging to die, aren't you?"

"OK, that's enough." The otter pointed his gun at Dark Tails. "Get up slowly and put your hands on the table."

Rather than get up slowly, Dark Tails did the complete opposite. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed the otter's hand and snapped it at the wrist. The pain forced the otter to drop his weapon. Still holding the broken arm, Dark Tails pulled the otter in close and unsheathed his other hand's claws. He sunk them deep into the otter's neck and wrenched them out, ripping out his throat in the process. A surge of blood splattered onto the table and in the remnants of his food. Dark Tails released the dead otter, who fell on the table before sliding into a bloody heap on the floor.

"Christ Almighty!" The sheriff screamed in utter shock at what he had just witnessed in the space of just five seconds. The other customers, who had turned their attention to the scene, wisely abandoned their meals and scurried out the diner, fearing for their lives, leaving the remaining cops to deal with the situation.

The mouse was quickest to react next, immediately whipping out his taser gun and firing it straight for Dark Tails. The wires caught him square in the chest and distributed an incapacitating electric shock throughout his body. It was enough to drop him to his knees but to the mouse's surprise, the fox did not fall unconscious or at the very least, his muscles were not rendered useless.

Dark Tails got to his feet and ripped the wires from his chest. In retaliation, he charged up his hands and aimed them at the mouse. A large blast of energy blew a hole clean through his chest. With the last of his life, the mouse stared wide-eyed at the hole before falling lifelessly to the floor.

The two remaining officers wasted no time pulling out their guns and opening fire on the dark fox. He casually advanced towards them, impassive to the bullets ripping through his body. Spinning around and swiping with his tails, he chopped off the dog's firing hand. Another spin and swipe and Dark Tails' namesake went clean through the dog's neck. His head was sent flying at the TV, splattering the screen with blood while his headless body plopped to the floor.

The sheriff visibly trembled when Dark Tails' glowing red eyes met his. He had long run out of bullets and resorted to using his truncheon. Dark Tails grinned at him, baring his fangs while letting out a low growl, egging the sheriff to make the first move. The sheriff attacked, whipping his truncheon for the dark fox's midsection. Rather than dodge or block the hit, Dark Tails merely steeled himself and caught it full force, breaking the truncheon in half in the process. He then grabbed the bear's hand and pulled him backwards. With his other hand, he grabbed the bear by the back of the neck. Releasing the bear's hand, Dark Tails grabbed the bear's bottom jaw, forcing it open. He then grabbed the upper jaw and forced the bear's mouth open to its limits. Still, the dark fox kept going until the jaw dislocated. Still, he kept going until the edges of the mouth were split asunder, the lower jaw was ripped off, and the neck snapped. The head was forced so far back it was leaning back on the shoulder blades.

Dark Tails let the dead body drop. Looking down at his clothes, he saw them stained with fresh blood. Adding to the fact that he had not changed or washed since stealing them, they were really starting to go rank. "After I retrieve the Emerald, I'm taking a shower."

The dark fox picked the last steak from his plate; the meat was splattered with blood but he did not mind. He wolfed it down like a pelican and exited the diner. With his energy restored, he spun his tails and took to the skies, flying towards the mountain.

 **-O-O-**

The moonlight provided just enough illumination for Dark Tails to get the lay of the land. Just like in his vision, the area surrounding the mountain was a total wasteland. Nothing but rocky sands and gnarly trees lay at the foot of the mountain. A misty fog permeated the land. The whole scene reeked of lifelessness. Just to Dark Tails' liking.

Aided by the moonlight and his night vision, Dark Tails was able to locate the cave entrance. He landed and ventured into the inky blackness. Lighting up his hand for illumination cast an eerie red glow over everything. The cave had a scary vibe about it but Dark Tails was not scared in the least.

"As if there's anything in this cave that can frighten Dark-" He stopped speaking when he felt his shoe kick something. Shining his hand down, Dark Tails saw that he had kicked a skull. Most people would be screaming in terror but the dark fox was just curious.

He picked up the skull. "Now what could have killed you?

Mobius had no dangerous wild animals. And could this dead explorer not have just walk out of the cave if they did not find what they were looking for? Two theories came to Dark Tails' mind.

"Either they were killed by a trap or by something else. Something that's probably ali-"

He was deep in thought he did not see where he was stepping on. He trod on a section of the floor that sunk into the ground. In the milliseconds that followed, Dark Tails' senses were quickly at their peak, ready to pick up even the slightest of movements. They proved to be such precious milliseconds.

One section of the wall instantly sprouted spikes that extended towards the dark fox. There was little room in between the spikes to hide in but luckily, Dark Tails was just small enough. With his super speed, the spikes came in slow motion to him, giving him plenty of time to be able to position himself snugly in between. His calculations were correct; the spikes punctured the other wall, none of them impaling the dark fox, who stood at odd angles to avoid them. The spikes would not have killed him but he was not willing to endure the sensation of being impaled by multiple large spikes.

The spikes slowly retracted back into their reopened holes, which had been covered in cobwebs; it would be easy for someone to miss them.

Setting himself right, Dark Tails continued on deeper inside the cave. Coming to a slight incline, he suddenly stopped as his eyes briefly flashed purple. "The Emerald's close."

The dark fox hastened his steps. Once again, he paid no heed to where he stepped and he trod on another part of the floor that sank into the ground. Once again he stopped, bracing himself for the next trap that was to come. A deep rumbling shook the cave and specks of dust fell from the cave ceiling. The rumbling intensified and Dark Tails looked around for the cause. He looked left, right, behind him and up...

...just in time to see a large, flat rock coming down like a stamp to flatten him. By reflex, he raised his hands to try and catch it; which he probably would have been able to do. But seeing that rock coming down on him at that great speed dissuaded him. But by another reflex, he remembered his powers.

Charging up both his hands and bringing them together, Dark Tails fired a concentrated blast at the incoming rock, catching it dead in the centre. The rock glowed red hot but continued its descent. Dark Tails intensified the blast and that seemed to work as cracks started to form on the rock. Finally, with a loud explosion, the rock broke into numerous red-hot almost molten chunks. Fortunately none of them hit him.

A smug smile crossed Dark Tails' face. "Is that all you got?!" he yelled into the darkness, his voice echoing all around the cave.

With the gloating moment gone, the dark fox continued on, avoiding the red-hot chunks of rock. Going deeper into the cave, the path got wider and smoother. He could feel the Dark Emerald's energy beckoning him closer, guiding him...

His glowing hand illuminated an archway in front of him. Stepping inside, Dark Tails found himself in a high ceilinged chamber with stalactites hanging from the cave roof. Unlit torches were evenly mounted on the wall, leading up to the end of the chamber, where a there was a purplish glow...

Dark Tails' eyes widened. There, at the end of the chamber, was a pedestal surrounded by rocks. And there, on the pedestal, sat the object of his unholy desires: the Dark Emerald.

The dark fox snickered. "Too easy." He took a step forward.

With an ominous and whispering wind, the torches spontaneously ignited, bathing the chamber in flickering orange light. A deep rumbling shook the chamber, the stalactites threatening to break and rain down on the dark fox. But the rocks that were actually moving were the ones surrounding the pedestal. Like clay, they moulded around the Emerald and merged into a rapidly growing mass that begun to take shape: a pair of feet, legs, a huge muscular looking torso, a pair of large arms, a neck and finally, a head. Right before Dark Tails' very eyes, a humanoid giant was moulded.

A hole formed at the chest, revealing the Dark Emerald embedded inside. A pair of glowing purple eyes popped open. They dropped their piercing gaze on the dark fox. A jagged mouth ripped across the rock giant's face.

The giant said in a booming voice. "Traveller! You are intruding on forbidden land. To preserve this secret from being revealed to the outside world, you must be destroyed." One of its hands morphed into a hammer.

"Don't worry, I'll leave. Once I take that Emerald from you."

"Fool! You cannot meddle with this kind of power, lest you bring destruction and darkness upon the whole world."

"Uh, yeah. That's why I want to take it." Dark Tails said matter-of-factly as if he was talking to a simpleton.

"What is this I sense?" The giant narrowed its eyes as if was scrutinizing the fox. It pointed at him with its hammer. "You have been corrupted with Dark Energy!"

Dark Tails rolled his eyes. "It didn't corrupt me. It made me better. And it also showed me how to make this world better. Now give me the Emerald nicely or I'll dig it out of you once I smash you all over the floor."

"As the Guardian of the Dark Emerald, I cannot let you leave here alive." Brandishing its hammer, the Guardian advanced towards Dark Tails. Raising it high, he brought it down on the fox. Dark Tails jumped out of the way. The hammer smashed a huge crater in the ground, the force of the hammer's blow shook the entire cavern. The stalactites in the ceiling shook but luckily they held. The Guardian raised its hammer again and smashed it toward the fox. Again Dark Tails dove out of the way, the hammer making another crater in the ground. Before the Guardian could raise its hammer, Dark Tails fired a powerful blast at the hammer's handle, breaking it. He immediately went on the attack and fired another blast at the Guardian's torso. It did not really do much; it only left a huge scorch mark.

The Guardian's hand then morphed into a stone sword, which it swiped at Dark Tails. The fox took to the air, avoiding the blow. He charged both his hands and brought them together. He then flew straight for the Guardian's shoulder, using himself as a missile and his charged hands as enhancers for his incoming blow. He punched right through the Guardian's shoulder, dislocating its arm which broke into pieces on the floor. The Guardian however, did not cry in pain. To the dark fox's surprise, he saw the arm had started to regenerate, the matter looking like it was being created from nothing.

The Guardian then raised both its arms to the roof. The chamber was suddenly shaken by a massive earthquake. This time the stalactites directly above Dark Tails broke away, falling right for him. He quickly flew out of the way but more stalactites continued to break from above him. It seemed as if whichever position he flew, there was a falling stalactite. He increased his speed in dodging them. The Guardian then brought its arm across its body in a swatting motion. But what was it swatting at...?

Dark Tails got his answer when a piece of the wall extended out and caught him right in the abdomen. The sheer force of the hit was enough to send him falling to the ground, his landing cracking the floor. He landed right at the Guardian's feet and when he regained his bearings was just in time to see a giant foot coming down on him. With no time to move, the dark fox shot to his feet and raised his hands up, willing all his strength into his arms. The Guardian's foot came down on him. He caught it in his hands but the force sent him down on one knee. His hands promptly gave and the foot continued onto his shoulders. Size and gravity were on the Guardian's side as it appeared to easily be able to crush him but with a loud scream of effort, Dark Tails was able to stop the foot coming down any further. In his posture, Dark Tails looked like Atlas holding up the sky.

"You have been bestowed with the strength of Darkness, boy." The Guardian commended. "But it is not enough to save you." It added more weight to its foot.

Dark Tails was starting to buckle under the pressure. The ground under him started to crack, threatening to send him falling through. He could not take another Newton and was not really keen to discover the range of the Dark Energy's healing capabilities. Could it revive him if he was crushed flat, if his entire body was reduced to a bloody pulp? He had to find a way out of his predicament. An idea quickly came to his head, courtesy of the Guardian's own words.

"Strength isn't the only thing the Dark Energy gave me." Charging up his hands, Dark Tails started to fire off a huge blast of concentrated energy into the Guardian's foot. A red-hot spot began to form under it, directly on top of him. The Guardian did not give off any screams of pain but that did not dissuade the dark fox, who continued to fire.

His efforts were rewarded. With a huge explosion, the Guardian's foot exploded into red-hot fireballs. Losing one of its feet threw the giant completely off balance and it started to fall forward. Dark Tails flew out of the way as the Guardian roared, crashing to the floor, the force of the fall shaking the whole place. Dark Tails took advantage and flew directly above the Guardian's head. He charged up his hands once more and fired a large blast at the head. It exploded in a fiery rocky mess.

Dark Tails landed on the Guardian's back in triumph. "So large, yet so-"

Before he could gloat any further, the Guardian's body rumbled. To the dark fox's surprise, what he thought was a dead pile of rocks grew its head back and its leg regenerated. He quickly flew off the giant's back as it got to its feet. Dark Tails took cover behind the remnants of its former hand and tried to think.

"OK, it's regenerating and is geokinetic. Blowing its head off can't kill it. What am I supposed to do? Come on, Dark Tails. Think!" An idea suddenly sprung to his head: like him, the Guardian was using Dark Energy to survive hits that would normally kill but unlike him, who had the Dark Energy distributed throughout his entire body, the Guardian only had the Dark Energy in its chest, courtesy of the Dark Emerald. If he separated the Emerald from the Guardian then that would definitely destroy it.

A piece of the wall shot out towards him. He quickly dove out of the way. Turning around, he saw the Guardian on its feet, glaring down at him. It clapped its hands together and rectangular pieces of the wall extended towards Dark Tails, attempting to crush him in between. He quickly jumped out of the way as the rocks clashed together.

Dark Tails took to the air. He goaded the Guardian into attacking him by giving it the "bring it on" gesture **(I don't know if it's called that)**. The Guardian obliged him, morphing its hands into a sword and hammer. It struck with the hammer as if it was swatting a fly. Dark Tails flew over the attack, the hammer smashing into the wall. Ripping the hammer out, the Guardian next attacked with its sword, swinging it down. Dark Tails flew to the side and as the sword crashed into the floor. As the Guardian wrenched its sword out, he charged up a massive ball of energy. When the Guardian turned to face him, he hurled the ball at its groin. The connection resulted in a blinding explosion that blew the Guardian in half. It fell legless on its back, the impact of the landing also breaking its arms off.

Seizing the opportunity, Dark Tails charged up his hands and brought them together. He flew high up to the cave's ceiling until he could see the Guardian directly below him. Then, like a meteorite, he descended with tremendous speed right for its chest, exactly where the Dark Emerald was positioned.

The force of the blow resulted in another blinding explosion and a minor tremor. When Dark Tails' sight returned, he saw the rewarding fruits of his efforts: the Guardian's chest was split open with the Dark Emerald lying in a pile of pebbles... that were quickly starting to regenerate.

Sinking his hands into the rubble of the Guardian's chest, Dark Tails plucked the Emerald free.

"NOOOOO!" The Guardian screamed in anguish. Whatever parts of its body that were regenerating had instantly ceased. The purple glow in its eyes faded away.

Dark Tails clambered over the Guardians ruined chest and stared into its now dull eyes. He shook the Dark Emerald in the Guardian's face like a kid who got the last toy ahead of his rival.

"You fool! You do not realize... the danger of... the power you wield. You will bring doom to this world!" The Guardian choked out with the last of its life.

Dark Tails aimed a glowing red hand at the Guardian's face. "I won't bring doom to this world." He fired a blast that blew the Guardian's head into a pile of red-hot rocks. "I will merely plunge it into darkness."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: OK, that's me done with this chapter, which begins the Dark Emerald hunt. I was up all night working on it. Stay tuned for more darkness-fuelled mayhem!**

 **Read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	18. A Vindictive Hedgehog

Without bothering to knock, Sonic barged into Shadow's apartment. He found the black hedgehog stuffing various weapons into a travel bag.

"Shadow, come on. This is ridiculous."

Shadow did not even bother raising his head to acknowledge the blue hedgehog. "You can't talk me out of this, Sonic."

"Look, I get that you're angry but this is not the way to go about it."

Shadow packed some grenades into the bag. "Dark Tails is dangerous. He's out there killing innocent lives, and now, it appears he can't tell friend from foe in his crazed bloodlust."

"But, Shadow, come on. You, of all people, should know better that Dark Tails can't be killed with those."

"I'm gonna give it my all." Shadow said matter-of-factly, as if he was delivering obvious news. He closed his bag and slung one strap over his shoulder.

Sonic stood at the door, blocking the black hedgehog's path. "I'm sorry, Shadow but I can't let you go."

Shadow narrowed his eyes at the blue hedgehog. "Step aside, Sonic."

Sonic stood his ground. "Make me."

"So be it." Shadow growled. He dropped his bag of weapons and in the blink of an eye, he pounced, colliding with Sonic at full force.

The two tumbled into the hallway with Shadow landing on top of Sonic. They started to roll each other over, each one trying to get the better of the other. Eventually, Sonic wound up pinning Shadow to the floor but the black hedgehog simply threw him off. They both scrambled to their feet and took fighting stances.

Sonic still attempted to talk Shadow out of seeking revenge. "Come on, man. We may not be friends but we're definitely not enemies."

"Yet here you stand, protecting the _real_ enemy." Shadow retorted.

The blue hedgehog still tried to reason with his black furred counterpart. "But you don't stand a chance against him. Our only hope is to find him and try to cure him."

"That's your decision. I've made mine." With that, Shadow sped towards Sonic, who sped right back at him. The result was a blue blur colliding with a reddish black one. Their fight was an amalgam of blue and black flashing around, coming together before briefly separating and merging again.

In the blurs, Sonic and Shadow fought a furious battle. Punches and kicks were thrown and blocked at lightning speeds. Shadow however had the advantage, as he was the most trained fighter and fought without restraint, holding nothing back. Sonic had determination, a dedication of friendship to his best bud. It spurred him on to continue, despite his limited combat skills. But as the fight went on, it became apparent who had the edge. Shadow began landing blows to more significant parts of Sonic's anatomy. It wore the blue hedgehog down but he still tried to hold his own. It proved to be an exercise in futility.

Shadow started to find more openings and duly exploited them, throwing incapacitating punches to Sonic's abdomen, sides, back and legs. Shadow then gave himself a running start, ran at an immobile Sonic and kicked him full force in the gut. The blue hedgehog was sent flying into the wall at the end of the hall, his impact cracking it. He flopped to the floor, unresponsive.

The black hedgehog returned to his apartment and retrieved his bag. He walked back to where Sonic was lying. The blue hedgehog had regained consciousness but it was clear he was struggling to stay in it.

Shadow squatted down to him. "I'm gonna find him, Sonic. Get in my way again and you might find yourself joining him in the afterlife." Standing up, he slung the bag over his shoulder and walked down the hall.

Sonic tried to crawl after him but his body gave out and he fell back into unconsciousness.

 **-O-O-**

"I can't believe Shadow would do that." Amy exclaimed as she handed Sonic an ice pack.

"Well he did. He's bent on revenge." Sonic groaned as he rubbed the ice onto his shoulder.

"He, of all people, should know that Dark Tails can't be killed that easily." Knuckles pointed out.

Sonic threw his arms up. "That's what I told him! But he's so blinded by hate!"

"Should we try and stop him?" Amy asked with concern.

Sonic scoffed at the idea. "Nah let Dark Tails rip him in half for all I care."

"Sonic!" The pink hedgehog glared at him.

"What?! Do you not see my bruises?" Sonic pointed to his body, which had a few bruises and swellings.

"But Shadow is still our friend." Amy protested.

Sonic rolled his eyes in disgust. "'Friend' is _way_ overrated, don't you think?" He angrily threw the melted ice bag to the floor. "I'm gonna get more ice."

He went to the fridge in the kitchen and took out the ice tray. Dropping a few blocks into a new ice bag, he lifted his shirt. Underneath, on his side, there was a reddening bruise, throbbing with pain. He pressed the ice bag to the bruise and sighed in relief. A few minutes later, Amy walked up to him.

"I totally get you're pissed at Shadow but you didn't really mean what you said, right?"

Sonic sighed, more in annoyance than at the relief of the ice on his injured side. "Even if I wanted to save him, which I don't, we don't know where he, or Dark Tails, is."

"Here, let me help you." Amy took the ice bag from Sonic. "You've got a big one in your back. I don't think you can reach it." She pressed the ice to his back.

Oh, yes. That's the stuff." The blue hedgehog sighed exhaled. "Thanks, Amy."

"You're welcome." Amy was glad Sonic had his back turned to her, or he would have seen the blush on her cheeks. She loved being this close to her crush and this moment was all the more sweeter, with him naked from the waist up.

"Shadow's just too much of a thickhead to admit that he has a thing for Rouge. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been as keen on revenge as he is now."

"Yeah... at least I'm not." The pink hedgehog said before she could stop herself.

Sonic turned his head. "What was that?"

"Nothing." She quickly said, her cheeks matching her fur.

Sonic smiled. "I haven't forgotten about our conversation two weeks ago, Ames. I'm glad you spoke your mind."

Amy turned away, hoping Sonic did not see her blush. "Th- thanks."

Sonic turned around and gently lifted her head with his fingers. "I think I may already have my answer."

Amy's face lit up. "Really?"

"Wanna know what it is?"

"Yes..." The pink hedgehog almost squealed.

Before Sonic could open his mouth, there was a clearing of the throat at the door.

Knuckles stood there, emotionlessly watching the tender moment with his arms folded over his chest. "If you two aren't done, there's a room upstairs."

"Nothing happened! Nothing was happening!" The two hedgehogs quickly separated, cheeks red with embarrassment.

Knuckles rolled his eyes, not buying it but not really keen on pursuing it any further. "Anyways, Kevin is here."

 **-O-O-**

The three returned to the living room, where Kevin was sitting on the couch. He looked up to acknowledge them and noticed Sonic's bruises. "Did I miss something?"

Sonic remembered that he was still shirtless. "Shadow. He wants to get revenge on Dark Tails for beating Rouge to a bloody pulp."

Kevin shrugged. "When you say it like that, it almost sounds vindicating he should go after him."

"Kevin!" Amy looked at the wolf, appalled.

"What? I'd be doing the same thing if my girlfriend got beat up and her assailant was still running around." Kevin stated matter-of-factly.

"Whatever the case, we can't do anything about it, coz we don't know where either Shadow or Dark Tails are." Knuckles pointed out.

Sonic put his shirt back on. "Just throwing it out there, but do you think that on his own, Shadow could be having more luck at finding Dark Tails than we are?"

 **-O-O-**

Shadow may have left Emerald City but he did not know where to start looking. His only starting point was that Emerald City was on the east coast, so Dark Tails would have headed west. But where? Dark Tails might as well have headed north or south. He was just going to have to take a guess.

He opted to use an SUV for transportation rather than run. His gear was too heavy to be running around with. But using a car had its advantages, like a radio to inform him of any unusual activity. He mostly kept to the news channels.

" _Four policemen, including the sheriff, were brutally murdered in the town of Erich by what witnesses claim to have been 'a super powered two tailed fox'. This is no doubt the doing of Miles Prower, a highly dangerous and feared murderer who has been credited with the deaths of over a hundred individuals in Emerald City. The-"_

Shadow turned off the radio. That was just the lead he needed. Turning on the SUV's GPS, he input the town "Erich".

On the monitor, a red line appeared, indicating the distance and from his position from Erich. It was west from Emerald City.

Stepping on the accelerator, the hedgehog headed towards Erich.

"I'm coming for you, Dark Tails."

 **-O-O-**

There was a huge crowd gathered around a diner, held back by police tape and the town's police force... which comprised of just fewer than two dozen officers. Clearly this town had a very low crime rate hence did not need a larger police force. This was probably the most exciting crime the town had seen.

Shadow parked his car nearby and walked to the diner. Pushing his way to the front, he surveyed the scene.

Four bodies lay on the floor, draped in white sheets. A few forensic scientists milled about inside, looking for any evidence.

Clearly Dark Tails had been here but he was obviously long gone. Shadow just had to find out where.

He saw an elderly looking cat talking to an officer, who nodded before returning to some of his companions before pointing at something. The hedgehog followed his finger and saw that he was pointing at a mountain.

 _Hmm... I might have an idea where Dark Tails headed off to,_ he thought to himself. But he still had to confirm. Walking to the cat, Shadow played the curious out of towner card.

"Excuse me, ma'am, sorry to bother you but I was just passing through when I noticed the commotion. Could you please tell me what happened?"

The cat looked Shadow up and down curiously, taking in his all black attire. "What are you, some kind of undercover agent?"

 _Perceptive,_ the hedgehog thought. "No. I'm just a curious passerby."

The cat dropped her scepticism "OK. A black fox came into the diner, rude as a demon, and looking like one. He ordered a meaty dinner, when the cops came in. They must have recognized him as the killer fox I've now been hearing about. Anyway, he killed the cops and, well, you're not gonna believe this, but when I peeked through the kitchen door, he _flew_ with his _tails_ straight for that mountain." She pointed at the same mountain the cop pointed at.

A malicious grin crossed Shadow's face. _Gotcha_. "Don't worry, I believe you. Thanks for the info." He turned away from the cat, who eyed his receding back with suspicion.

"You're not just some curious bystander, are you?"

Shadow turned to face her, his features darkening. "No, ma'am. I am that fox's reckoning, here to put an end to his killing spree, once and for all."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: This chapter's a bit short, I know and the action scene is not as detailed as the last. But that's coz it was a fight between two speedsters and obviously contained a hundred punches and kicks and I wasn't gonna describe each one. Anyways, it keeps the story going, with Shadow also beginning a revenge mission of his own. Stay tuned to find out how that ends for him.**

 **Read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	19. Emerald Hunt (Swamp Battle)

The news channel was on, with the top story being another Dark Tails report.

" _For the past week, Emerald City has been terrorised by –and I'm not making this up, folks- a super-powered fox. According to reports coming from the city, Miles Prower, a sixteen year-old seemingly harmless fox, apparently gained superpowers and went on a murderous rampage around Emerald City before he was finally stopped by its police force. But he later escaped, leaving behind a trail of blood and bodies. The last sighting of the fox was in the town of Erich, where he killed a small squad of officers who attempted to apprehend him before taking off to unknown destinations. A task force has been assembled by the Emerald City Police Department for the sole purpose of hunting down Miles Prower. He is considered extremely dangerous and Mobians are being urged to alert any nearby authorities should they have any sighting of the fox."_

Of course this peaked Dark Tails' interest and he walked out of the room he was getting dressed in, decent from the waist down and still towelling his fur dry. From the top of the stairs of the house he was staying in, he had a clear view of the TV... as well as the chair in front of it on which sat an elderly hedgehog, who was the rightful owner of the house and farm on which it resided.

"News of my murderous exploits is spreading faster than I thought." The dark fox mused as he descended the stairs, his bare feet tapping on the polished wooden boards. "But they don't know the bigger picture. My motives have moved beyond my bloodlust." He reached the bottom of the stairs and walked toward the hedgehog, who was unmoving; in fact, one would think he would be beyond startled that his houseguest was openly admitting to killing people. But as Dark Tails stepped in front of him, one could understand his reason for being totally still and silent...

"By the way, thank you for your hospitality."

...the old hedgehog had a tent peg impaling him from the bottom of his muzzle all the way through to the insides of his brain. Blood had flowed all the way down to his waist, staining the entire front of his button-down shirt.

After another long day of flying, Dark Tails had landed on his farm to rest. Rather than spend the night in the cold, smelly barn with a growling stomach, the dark fox snuck into the hedgehog's house through the open back door and found the hapless farmer snoring away in his chair, the still on TV broadcasting a documentary on one of the country's previous rulers. Killing him was so easy: all Dark Tails did was pick up a wooden tent peg from a pile of wood and jam it under the old hedgehog's muzzle. His eyes had shot open just long enough for him see his grinning murderer before slumping back onto his chair, lifeless. Then, as a dark and twisted joke, Dark Tails positioned the hedgehog farmer to appear as if he was still alive, watching TV. From there, the dark fox proceeded to raid his fridge before striding upstairs and sleeping in his bed.

"Sorry I had to empty your fridge and use up all the hot water." Dark Tails continued to speak to the corpse. "But you won't need them anymore now, am I right?" He chuckled and slapped the hedgehog on his shoulder as if he was an old –and still living- friend. That sent a stream of residual blood dripping from the hole the peg was still lodged in.

Looking back at the TV, the reporter was interviewing an elderly cat –Dark Tails recognised her as the waitress from the diner he went to.

" _When I first saw met him, I didn't know who he was. He was just rude but I wouldn't have pegged him for a murderer, especially with how young he was looking. Anyways, while I was in the kitchen, I heard a commotion followed by gunfire. I was too scared to come out. When everything quieted down, I came out and found the cops dead. I thought it was a robbery and the cops had tried to stop him so I went to review the security cameras and... I couldn't believe my eyes... it was like a movie. That fox was shot multiple times but was still standing. And then... he shot fire from his hands!"_

Dark Tails could not help but laugh as the waitress entered a sort of crazy-ranting-old-lady phase.

" _I fear he's some sort of devil come to destroy us all!"_

"Well she's right about one thing. But I'm not going to destroy you, per se." He said as he turned towards the corpse once more, looking into its lifeless eyes. "I have a much more gruesome future planned for this world." Leaving the corpse he strode back upstairs.

 **-O-O-**

When Dark Tails returned downstairs, he was fully dressed in his black attire of jacket, t-shirt with death graphic, jeans and sneakers. Despite the heavy punishment his clothes were taking, they looked as good as new. No rips or bullet holes from the numerous times he had been shot. He figured the Dark Energy also had a mending effect on his clothing; otherwise he would have been dressed in rags, bordering on nudity.

They still needed to be washed though.

A backpack was slung over Dark Tails' left shoulder. The dark fox turned back to the hedgehog's corpse, which now had a few flies crawling around it. He shooed them away. "Well, you were a gracious host but I must take my leave now. Oh, and I borrowed your backpack coz obviously you don't need it anymore, ha-ha. I, however, do." Opening the zipper, he reached in and fished out the bag's sole item: the Dark Emerald.

"As you can see, I'll need it to carry my Dark Emerald. But it's not only this one. There are two more out there, one not far from here. Anyways' I bid you adieu. The cause of darkness is indebted to you for your contributions." He moved in closer to the corpse and placed a hand on its shoulder, causing another trickle of blood. "I wish you could see the glorious future that will come courtesy of these gems. Such a shame you won't be there." He replaced the Dark Emerald in the backpack, zipped it shut and slung it over his shoulder once more. Then, he was out the door.

 **-O-O-**

Dark Tails had only been in the air for thirty minutes when he finally located the swamp. Like in his vision, it was surrounded by an unappealing wasteland, which would probably have deterred any curious explorers or tourists from travelling there. Had it not been for the Emerald's presence, he too would not have bothered coming here.

He went into a descent, flying through the dense trees before landing on a moist patch of grass by a stagnant pond. Almost immediately, he wrinkled his nose. Unlike in his vision, this time the swamp's pungent smells assaulted him full force. It was bad enough that he was a fox and his sense of smell was already strong enough without the Dark Energy enhancing it tenfold. He could smell every rotting foliage, putrid mud puddles and rancid ponds.

"Let's just get this over with."

Scanning his surroundings, Dark Tails looked for any familiar landmark he might have picked up in his vision. To his right he noticed a large leafless tree he remembered seeing. That was start. He took a step toward it...

...and instantly felt his foot sink in slimy mud. With a sickening sucking sound, the dark fox's shoe was enveloped in the mud and he felt water seeping in. He quickly ripped his foot out but lost his balance in the process. Before he knew it, he was falling face first into the muck. By reflex, he threw his arms out to halt his fall. It mostly worked, with his hands and wrists sinking deep before finally feeling solid-ish ground. Unfortunately, his weight took him further down and the tip of his muzzle kissed the foul smelling mud.

Beyond disgusted, Dark Tails pushed himself up with all his strength, stepping back onto the grass. Instinctively he reached out a hand to wipe the mud off his muzzle -forgetting that his hands were also covered in mud. Before he knew it, he had only smeared more mud onto his muzzle.

Dark Tails let out a scream of utter disgust. Sinking to his knees, he wiped his hands on the grass, the dew helping to get some of the grime off but it was not a thorough job. Then he used his jacket to wipe his muzzle. Again it was not thorough enough and the dark fox forced himself to lick up what was left and spit it out. It left him with a bad taste in his mouth and every time he inhaled, all he could smell was the mud.

"Ugh. Why did I choose to walk?" Spinning his namesakes, he took to the air and simply flew over the filth and to the tree, simple as that. What could possibly go wrong?

Dark Tails landed by the tree and scanned the area, looking for any other familiar landmark. Hard to spot anything different when the entire landscape looked almost the same. As he looked around while circling the tree, was not paying attention to where he was stepping and before he knew it, his foot caught on one of the tree's roots. He found himself falling toward another, much larger root. Again, by instinct he threw his arms forward to halt his fall. Surely the root was strong enough to take his weight.

It was not.

As soon as his hands made contact with the root, they broke right through. They were instantly assaulted by a multitude of limbs from inside the root. Ripping his hands out, Dark Tails saw that hundreds of insects and worms were crawling all over them. This time he was more annoyed than disgusted and simply charged his hands, incinerating the bugs. Dusting the ash off his hands, Dark Tails took a good look at the tree and saw that it was actually dead. A kick to its trunk and the shower of grubs that spilled from the hole also confirmed its hollowness.

Returning to the task at hand, Dark Tails once again scanned the area and this time, he spotted something familiar: the river, hidden by reeds and pussy willows. He flew to it and landed on its bank; for once landing on something solid and secure. Pushing away the reeds, he arrived at the water's edge. Surprisingly, the river looked clean, which was rather weird, considering the environment it was running through.

"OK. All I have to do is follow the river downstream and I'll find the cave." Dark Tails said to himself. Spinning his tails, he flew above the river as he followed it downstream. He kept his eyes straight ahead, hoping to get first glance at the cave.

After ten minutes of flying, lo and behold, there it was! The river disappeared right into a large cave that spanned both banks. Unfortunately, the cave's mouth only offered enough room for the water to flow. There was no room to allow entry into the cave without getting wet. So if Dark Tails wanted to get to the Dark Emerald, he was going to have to swim for it. It was not a tall order; after all, unlike Sonic, he was an excellent swimmer, Dark Energy or no Dark Energy.

Dark Tails landed on the bank near the cave and started to undress. He did not want to get his clothes wet, knowing that after that swim, he would be cold and would need some warmth. He stripped down to his boxers and stuffed the rest of his clothes into his backpack with the other Dark Emerald. Then, as a precaution, dark Tails hid the backpack in the reeds, together with his shoes -even though it was highly unlikely anyone would come along and find them.

Walking to the edge of the river, Dark Tails dipped a toe in. Unsurprisingly, it was near freezing, almost making the dark fox have second thoughts. But he remembered his cause and that seemed to alleviate his doubt. With a deep breath, he put his hands together, bent his knees and jumped in with a soft splash.

The ice-like waters immediately assaulted his skin, making him feel as if liquid nitrogen was being pumped into his body. But he persevered. When his vision finally became clear, he took in the underwater surroundings.

For a river, it was surprisingly very deep. But for such a deep river, there was barely any marine life visible.

His burning lungs reminded him what he was there for. He swam up to the surface to take in some air and immediately felt the current as it began to push him towards the cave. But Dark Tails was not going to allow himself to be at the mercy of the current. Taking in another deep breath, he submerged.

Part of the reason for being a good swimmer was Dark Tails' namesakes, as he could use them to propel himself through the water faster than a normal marine animal. He spun his tails and took off like a torpedo, straight into the cave.

He had only swum a few feet from the entrance but already the light had disappeared and he found himself in inky blackness. His night vision kicked in, but he could only see a few feet in front of him. The cave's width had also narrowed to resemble a tunnel. He hoped that the river was not rigged with booby traps like the cave because those would be difficult to avoid when he was underwater and on a limited air supply. Speaking of air supply...

Dark Tails tried to swim up for air but to his shock, he found that the water filled the entire cave, with absolutely no air pocket above. _Well, I guess this is enough to deter anyone from trying this,_ he thought. He had been swimming at high speeds and covered a lot of distance, something the average Mobian could not manage; if they did, they would have drowned. Dark Tails was no average Mobian but he too felt the early signs of holding his breath for too long: burning lungs. _Come on, Dark Tails, pick up the pace._

Spinning his tails faster and streamlining himself some more, Dark Tails swam at Aquaman-speed. Still, he could not see the end of the tunnel and pretty soon, he felt hypoxia kicking in. The urge to breathe in was too good to resist but Dark Tails held on. He did not want water in his lungs. Pretty soon, however, his already poor vision started to blur. Still he swam on but the lack of oxygen to his muscles had taken its toll. His tails had stopped spinning and the dark fox found himself at the mercy of the current.

But wait. What was that?

Through the blur, Dark Tails could just make out a white light at the end of the tunnel. _Did I die?_

He did not dwell on that thought for long, for he felt the current shift downwards. Bereft of air but still conscious, Dark Tails' ears could just pick up the faint sounds of water splashing against rock. In his hazy mind, they sounded so far away but they were, actually...

Wait. If he could hear the water splashing against the rocks then that means... an air pocket!

As if the river could read his mind, the shifting currents pushed Dark Tails' head was pushed to the surface, breaking through the water. Taking in huge gulps of air, he felt his senses slowly returning to normal and he assessed the situation.

He remembered seeing a white light. Was that the light at the end of the tunnel when someone died? Nah. The Dark Energy had kept him alive from much worse deaths than drowning. Besides, he was still underwater when he saw the light.

As his vision started to clear, Dark Tails could now see the source of said light: thousands of luminescent crystals that lined the tunnel walls. They provided the necessary illumination for Dark Tails to see where he was going.

With his muscles oxygenated, it was time to return to the task at hand. But before the dark fox could assume the appropriate position, the tunnel sloped, the current suddenly picked up and a sudden change in the river's course sent him slamming into the cave wall. Another change soon followed and with it, another slam into the wall. And another. The river then started flowing down some rapids, with Dark Tails completely at their mercy. Every turn in the river sent him crashing into the walls. The crystals were almost dagger-like as they pierced and cut his skin. But that was the least of the dark fox's problems.

For a brief moment, Dark Tails was able to see what was ahead. His eyes widened. "Oh... shit."

Straight ahead was a waterfall. Dark Tails desperately tried to stop himself. Unsheathing his claws, he sank them into the tunnel's walls; the current still dragged him along. Next he tried using his tails as anchors, sinking their sharp tips into the river's bottom. This time though, he did manage to slow down until he came to a stop right on the edge of the waterfall with the water bombarding his back, threatening to dislodge him.

Looking down, Dark Tails saw that river entered a huge circular chamber lit with thousands of glowing crystals. The waterfall fed a large lake hundreds of feet below. In the centre of that lake was a small rock island and right in the centre of that island...

The dark fox's eyes lit up. In the centre of the island was a pedestal and right on top of that pedestal was the Dark Emerald.

Dark Tails was so entranced by the sight of the Emerald, his grip slackened. Before he could reset himself, the current dislodged him and pushed him out, sending him plummeting hundreds of feet into the lake below. He hit the water with a loud splash and briefly sank before he righted himself. Looking down into the lake's depths, he saw nothing but an inky darkness. The lake must've been really deep. But the object he sought was not down there. Dark Tails breached and swam for the island. Hauling himself out of the waters, he wasted no time striding towards the Dark Emerald, his eyes never leaving the jewel. In that moment, nothing else mattered; after all, it was only he and the Emerald in the chamber.

In fact, he was so focused on the Emerald, he failed to pick up the faint sounds of a low growl. As the dark fox neared the pedestal, the growling got louder and this time, he did pause. _What the hell was that?_

His answer was a sudden earthquake that shook the entire chamber, almost knocking him off his feet. But it was enough to open huge fissures on the island. Chunks of rock broke off and sank into the depths, causing the island to shrink. A chunk Dark Tails was standing on cracked but he quickly jumped off it, landing onto what was left of the island. Despite the earthquake, the Dark Emerald still remained stuck on the pedestal, perhaps held there by some mystic force. Just grab it and get out of there.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting roar echoed around the chamber. Another chunk Dark Tails was standing on broke loose but he leapt off it and dove for the Emerald. Before he could make contact with it, he felt something soft and slimy coil around his legs and waist. Looking down in shock, he saw that it was a giant tentacle, sticking out from the lake. It then lifted him high in the air and dragged him down into the depths.

As the bubbles cleared from Dark Tails' vision, he could now see the creature the tentacle belonged to: a giant octopus. It swam down into the lake's pitch black depths, dragging the dark fox down with it as he struggled against the tentacle's vicelike grip, which was slowly starting to constrict him. It looked a lost cause but not for Dark Tails. Willing all of his Dark Energy-given strength into his arms, he pushed out, grunting for all he was worth. He felt the grip loosen and the tentacle stretched out. With one final push, the tentacle snapped against the strain and he was free.

As octopus let out a roar of pain, Dark Tails swam for the surface and breached, gulping for air. Without even bothering to look behind him, he flew right towards the Emerald...

...only for a tentacle to shoot out from the lake and pluck it off the pedestal, before retreating into the depths.

"Oh, come on!" Dark Tails snarled and dove back into the lake. He was just in time to watch as the octopus placed the Dark Emerald into a hole in between its eyes. Then it unleashed a loud roar as the eyes glowed purple and its maimed tentacle began to regenerate.

The octopus then set its malicious gaze on Dark Tails and narrowed its eyes. It shot two of its arms out towards him with astonishing speed. Luckily, his reflexes were just as sharp and he swam out of the way, with the tentacles lodging themselves into the wall. The octopus wrenched its arms free and renewed its attack, with Dark Tails dodging each time. But as they continued this cat-and-mouse game, he realized that his reaction time was getting slower. It then dawned on him that the octopus was actually trying to wear him down, as he was burning up his limited oxygen at a much faster rate. If he was going to win this fight, they were going to have to fight in his environment. After dodging another tentacle onslaught, the dark fox swam for the surface. Just as he was about to breach, a tentacle wrapped around his legs and pulled him back down. With its unwilling passenger, the octopus then resumed its descent into the depths.

Dark Tails struggled against the octopus' grip but it appeared that the Dark Emerald had also granted it immense strength. He also realized that using brute force was not helping at all, as the burning in his lungs intensified and his vision once again started to blur. If he was going to get out of this, he was going to have to use his brain –which was challenging, considering the lack of oxygen. But the dark fox was a quick thinker. And that was when he remembered that the octopus had left his arms free. _Big mistake, pal._

Charging up his hands, he shot a blast of energy at the octopus' head, which blasted clean through. The beast roared in pain and released the dark fox, who quickly swam for the surface with whatever energy his oxygen deprived muscles had left. His lungs were burning so bad, they might as well have been holding lit gas. By then, his brain was so low on oxygen, his eyesight was reduced to blobs of colour, on the very fringes of consciousness; nevertheless, it still had enough juice to tell him the same thing: swim up.

The moment he felt his head break through the water's surface, he instantly gulped a precious mouthful of air. He swam over to the remnants of the island and flopped onto his back, breathing heavily. As his brain got its precious oxygen, he began to work out a plan of attack. He had been on the defensive throughout the entire fight; time to switch it up.

Bubbles began to rise from the water's surface, heralding the octopus' impending arrival. This time, Dark Tails was ready for it. No tentacles shot out; the octopus broke through in all its might, letting out an ear –splitting roar. It then focused its glowing purple eyes on the fox and growled. Raising a tentacle, spikes suddenly sprouted from the tip. It then swiped that tentacle at Dark Tails, who jumped backwards to dodge it. Before it could renew its attack, Dark Tails shot a blast of energy at the tentacle, blowing half of it clean off. But he did not stop there, firing blast after blast at the octopus, which howled in pain. Dark Tails thought he had it on the ropes but it composed itself through his onslaught and eyed him maliciously. He then sent a concentrated blast at its head, trying to cut through it like a plasma torch. But the octopus growled and puffing itself up, it sprayed him in ink.

Dark Tails did not see it coming and was hit full force, falling on his back. He was covered in ink from head to toe, his already black fur now in a shinier shade –including his muzzle and chest fur, which is usually white. The ink also left him temporarily blind and totally vulnerable to the octopus' oncoming attack. With a swipe of its spiked arm, Dark Tails was sent flying across the chamber, his body riddled with holes. He slammed into a wall, with the luminescent crystals adding more injury on his person. Despite the pain, the dark fox's mind was hard at work, telling him to compose himself. Grunting in pain, he crawled over to the water's edge. He only had time to splash some water on his face to wash off the ink before the octopus grabbed him again. This time, rather than drag him underwater, it simply pulled him down towards its beak. As Dark Tails eyesight returned, he had enough time to see himself disappearing into the octopus' mouth. As its arm unravelled, he quickly grabbed hold of the beast's upper jaw, preventing it from clamping its mouth shut.

With an annoyed growl, the octopus struggled to close its mouth. It added more bite force and Dark Tails could feel the beak's sharp edges digging into his hands, making the whole effort uncomfortable. He slowly felt himself giving out as his knees began to buckle. He looked down into the slimy darkness of the octopus' gullet, which was threatening to suck him down into its disgusting depths. The octopus' tongue wriggled up and sampled him from the legs up. As it approached his face, Dark Tails was struck with an idea to assist in his escape. It was a disgusting idea but not as disgusting as going through the beast's alimentary canal. So as the tongue slid over his muzzle, Dark Tails opened his mouth and bit down hard on it.

A blast of foul breath assaulted his nostrils and open mouth as the octopus howled in pain. Still, Dark Tails held on, sinking his teeth deeper into the tongue. A flood of saliva pooled at his feet, causing him to lose his footing and allowing the octopus to close its mouth. For a moment, he expected to be swallowed but instead he found himself flying out of the mouth as the octopus spat him out.

He landed on the shore, covered in a sickly combination of ink and saliva but that was the least of his problems. The octopus snarled at him, raised a spiked tentacle and made a swiping motion. The spikes shot out towards Dark Tails. He quickly dove out of the way as the spikes impaled the ground.

Dark Tails knew he had to end this fast. The fight had gone on for too long and he was no closer to retrieving the Dark Emerald. It was time to fight dirty.

As the octopus raised another spiked tentacle and got ready to strike him, Dark Tails charged up his hands and shot two well aimed blasts at it. He scored a direct hit, nailing it in both its eyes. Temporarily blinded, the octopus roared in agony and flailed its eight arms about, hoping to catch Dark Tails with a lucky shot as its eyes healed. The dark fox was not going to let that happen.

Spinning his tails, Dark Tails took to the air. Dodging the octopus' wildly swinging arms, he made a beeline for the centre of its ruined eyes where the Dark Emerald was embedded. Landing on the squishy skin, he unsheathed his claws and sank them into the flesh around the Emerald and began to pull. However, the downside of this endeavour meant that the octopus now knew where he was. He felt an arm wrap around his torso, attempting to pull him away. Unfortunately, with Dark Tails still holding on to the Dark Emerald, that was impossible without giving it up. It could only hope the dark fox's grip would loosen.

But Dark Tails had his claws providing the necessary grip. As he was being pulled away, he was taking the Dark Emerald along with him, with the only resistance being the octopus' stretching skin. Finally, with a sickening tear, he wrenched the Emerald free.

The octopus let out a pained wail as its healing source was torn away from it. Its eyes had not fully regenerated, so it remained blind. But it still had Dark Tails in its grip. Maybe it would take some solace in crushing its enemy.

But Dark Tails would not give it the chance. With a triumphant grin, he shot a blast of energy that blew the tentacle holding him clean off. With his goal achieved, he could now leave; nothing was stopping him. But before he left, he had a huge dilemma, caused mainly by his bloodlust: should he leave the octopus as it is or should he put it out of its misery.

The beast's howls of pain answered his question for him.

Wedging the Dark Emerald in the cave wall, Dark Tails charged up his hands and brought them together. Thrusting them out, he flew straight for the octopus' head. Like an arrow, he pierced through its body and shot out the other side but he did not stop there. He repeated the actions again and again until the octopus' head was nothing but Swiss cheese. The dying beast let out a feeble cry and sank down into the depths.

Covered in entrails and panting heavily, Dark Tails retrieved the Dark Emerald from the wall. Gazing hypnotically into its pulsing purplish-blackness, the dark fox grinned from ear to ear.

"Two down, one to go."

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: OK first off, I apologize to you, my dear readers, for the long wait for an update. For the past five months, I've been dealing with depression and that nullified me from a lot of things. But I'm fine now, hopefully for the long run. So thank you for being patient. I hope this was worth it.**

 **Second, to any biologists who might be reading this: yes I know octopuses don't roar. But neither do sharks, yet Jaws said otherwise. Like Jaws, this is fiction.**

 **Till next time. Read and enjoy.**

 **J.W.H. 10**


	20. Concerned Parents

At their hangout house, Sonic, Amy and Knuckles sat watching an action movie. With no clue of Dark Tails' whereabouts or means of locating him, the gang just felt hopeless. They still occasionally watched and listened to the news, hoping one station might shed some light on the dark fox's movements but of late, there was no word.

The silence in the room was broken by the sound of Sonic's phone ringing. The hedgehog checked the caller ID and gasped. "Oh, boy. This is not good."

Amy sat up from the couch. "What is it? Did Shadow kill him?"

"Or the other way around?" Knuckles casually suggested.

Sonic shook his head. "Worse." He simply held his phone up for his friends to see.

"Oh." Upon seeing the caller, they understood Sonic's worry.

It was Tails' mother.

"Well, answer it." Amy urged.

Sonic took a deep breath and swiped towards the "answer" button. "Hi, Mrs. Prower."

" _Oh God, Sonic, please don't tell me what I'm hearing about Miles is true."_ Rosemary's voice sounded on the verge of breaking.

Sonic sighed in resignation. "I'm... afraid so, Mrs. Prower."

There was a sob on the other end. _"Oh, God. What happened to my baby?"_

Sonic did not know how to explain to Rosemary about how Tails' abuse of Dark Energy turned him into a murderous monster. "Look, Mrs. Prower, we're doing everything we can to find Tails. But with no clue as to where he is, we're not getting anywhere."

Rosemary took a deep, calming breath. "OK. I'm coming over."

"Um, Mrs. Prower, I don't really how that would help." Sonic tried to protest.

"No, my mind is made up. I'm his mother and I know him better than anyone."

It was difficult to argue with Rosemary when she was that determined. Still, Sonic saw no point in her coming. "Look, Mrs. Prower, mother or not, Tails isn't Tails. He's turned into..." he just could not say it, not to his mother.

Rosemary's voice became rushed. _"Sonic, the Royal Family also saw the news and they're panicking. I fear they might make a rash decision."_

"Mrs. Prower, as far as I'm concerned, you are far away from this and I strongly recommend you stay there." The last thing Sonic wanted was Rosemary seeing her son in his dark form. Or worse: Dark Tails killing his own mother.

" _Sonic, you don't understand. The government gets paranoid about things like this. As we speak, Amadeus is in a meeting with the other army generals. They're actually talking about trying to kill my baby."_

"Might find that harder than they think." Sonic said under his breath.

Rosemary probably did not hear him and continued. _"So if you think I'm going to stand by and do nothing, think again."_

"Wait, Mrs. Prower-" But Sonic was already speaking into a dial tone.

"What did she say?" Amy asked.

Sonic kept it simple. "She said the military are looking to get involved and that she fears they will kill him."

"Couldn't you tell her that Tails can't be killed?" Knuckles pointed out.

"Yeah. She has nothing to worry about." Amy added. "Except for her son's killing spree."

Sonic shrugged. "Hey, she was pretty determined about coming here. I couldn't persuade her otherwise."

"But she can't be here. Tails has shown that he does not care who he harms." Knuckles pointed out, a subtle reference to the dark fox's injuring of Rouge. "What if he harms his own mother? Or worse?"

Sonic quickly became defensive. "Hey, I'm well aware of that but she decided to come on her own volition. Don't go blaming me!"

The echidna aggressively stood up. "You should have told her!"

Amy tried to quell the bubbling hostility. "Guys, come on! Let's focus on Tails right now."

Knuckles slumped into a chair. "Well, he's clearly out of town, God knows where. The ECPD is hunting for him, I doubt they'll get lucky. Shadow wants to kill him, but he should know it will be a fruitless endeavour. And now, Mrs. Prower says the military wants to get involved." He chuckled to himself. "They'll just get themselves killed. They all will."

"All the more reason for us to find him before the others do. He could kill them." Amy pointed out.

"Imagine what that would do to Tails once he turns back to normal." Sonic said, a look of concern on his face.

 **-O-O-**

News of Dark Tails' superhuman murderous exploits had reached the capital and as expected, the Government was thrown into panic. The Acorn Kingdom's generals held a meeting in Fort Acorn, the Kingdom's army headquarters. The meeting was headed by General West, a physically imposing lion.

General West scanned the room and his eyes fell on one of the generals, General Amadeus, a fox wearing an eyepatch. He sighed to himself, knowing it will be very hard for him to comprehend.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen. Now I'm sure you're all aware of the horrifying events that have taken place in Emerald City. And of the... extreme methods through which they were committed. Now, our concern is that the... suspect now poses a potential threat, not only to the people of the Acorn Kingdom but also to the Royal Family."

As West said this, he stole subtle glances towards Amadeus, who appeared expressionless, casually leaning his head against his hand, betraying nothing. But the lion could tell he was dealing with some serious turmoil.

He continued. "Now, we must decide whether or not to take military action."

One of the other generals, a mongoose, spoke up. "Before we decide on any other course of action, why don't we first address the elephant in the room?"

The others knew what he was getting at.

"Aren't we first going to discuss that the suspect is General Amadeus' son?"

West cleared his throat. "Right, I was getting to that." He turned to the fox. "General Amadeus, you might find this a difficult decision but for the greater good-"

Amadeus growled. "Oh shut up!"

The entire room was stunned.

"Do you seriously think I'd vote for a military attack against my own son?"

"General Amadeus, he may be your son but you must face the facts. He has murdered hundreds and now poses a potential threat to the Royal Family." Another general, an echidna, pointed out.

Amadeus slammed his fist onto the table. "I don't care! He's my son!"

"General Amadeus, you've seen the news. People are dying, innocent people. How many more blood must be spilled by your son's hands?" A wolf questioned.

"I'm afraid General Wilson has a point, Amadeus." General West pointed out. "You made a vow to protect the Royal Family."

"I also made a vow to protect my _actual_ family." Amadeus angrily stood up. "And I will not stand idly by while you fiends plot to kill my son. Coz as a father, _my_ family comes first!" With a growl, he stormed out of the room.

He found Rosemary anxiously waiting for him outside, a worried expression on her face. "How did it go?"

Amadeus sighed. "They're hoping to hunt him down and kill him. Despicable idiots."

Rosemary gasped. "But the king wouldn't allow it, would he?"

Amadeus gave his wife a reassuring hug. "I don't know. We can only hope he doesn't overreact."

Rosemary donned a steely look. "Well I'm not gonna just stand around doing nothing while the military tries to hunt our son. I've decided to go to Emerald City to help Sonic and the others find him."

"I'll come with you." Amadeus offered.

Rosemary took his arms into hers. "No, I think it is best you stay here, to hear what the king decides."

He could not argue with her there. "OK. Good luck."

"Thanks." They shared a warm kiss.

 **-O-O-**

"So tell me what happened. Briefly."

The elderly cat sighed. "I already told the police. He came in, ordered some meat, killed the sheriff and a couple other cops and then flew off."

"Did you happen to see the direction he went?"

"Yeah. I believe he flew over to that mountain." She pointed to the dull looking rock. "Don't really know what he's looking for there. It's all lifeless, barren and treacherous, rock climbers won't even attempt to scale it."

That was just what he needed. "Thank you, madam." He started to walk away.

She called after him. "Just an observation. I can tell you're not exactly a cop. So why exactly are you going after the fox?"

He paused before replying. "I'm just a concerned citizen brave enough to try and stop him." He said before finally exiting the diner.

The elderly cat watched as the black furred hedgehog got into a black SUV and drove in the direction of the mountain.

 **-O-O-**

 _Well, she was right about this place being barren and treacherous._

Shadow found no direct road leading up to the mountain. The dirt road he had taken ended abruptly, replaced by very rough and uneven terrain so he continued the rest of the journey on foot. Trudging up sharp rocks he could feel through his shoes, he walked up the barren and unforgiving landscape. It was a rather difficult endeavour, as he was weighed down by some of his weapons: a belt of grenades, a large specially made rifle strapped to his back and two laser pistols. That, compounded by the rocky terrain, made running at super speeds difficult. It was best to stick to walking, as of now. Eventually the incline's angle became so steep that Shadow began to climb.

The hedgehog soldiered on, driven by the burning desire for revenge. Revenge for Rouge. No, not just Rouge, but the whole of the Kingdom, if not, all of Mobius. Dark Tails had shown that he was a greater threat, not just to his enemies –which the dark fox had already executed- but also his friends. It was clear the Dark Energy was beginning to consume him, blurring his ability to distinguish friend or foe.

Sonic and the others could not see that. They were too attached to their friendship with Tails, they had become too soft to make the tough decision. Shadow was not soft. He was prepared to go the distance toward ensuring that no harm would come to those he cared about.

Even if it meant killing one of them.

But it was for good reason. One's life is not worth hundreds.

"What's this?"

Reaching the top of the incline he was walking up, Shadow located a cave entrance.

"I wonder..." He took out a laser pistol and presented himself at the cave entrance aiming the weapon in the inky blackness.

"YOU IN THERE, DARK TAILS!"

His voice echoed in the darkness.

"Very well." Pulling out a flashlight, he ventured into the darkness. The flashlight beam illuminated the cave floor, sparsely littered with a few skulls and bones. Paying them no heed, he walked on... until he stepped on a section on the floor which sank. Within milliseconds, spikes shot out towards him. He easily zipped out of their way and they impaled the opposite wall before retracting.

Undaunted, Shadow continued further into the cave but this time, he was more cautious, concentrating his flashlight beam on the floor.

This time, he found the floor littered with rocks. Picking one up, he inspected it closely, finding scorchmarks. _So this is debris,_ he thought. _Part of a larger rock._

Aiming the flashlight at the cave's ceiling, he saw a large square hole, from which he figured that was where the larger rock came from. Someone must have blown it up.

And he had a pretty good idea who.

"This rock was clearly part of a booby trap. Dark Tails must have blown it up."

Shadow ventured onwards into the cave, which began to take on a more regular shape. The rough edges gradually became smoother and the cave walls grew wider. Then, he found an archway which led into some sort of chamber. Entering the chamber, he shone his light around.

The place looked like a battle had raged in it. The floor was littered with felled stalactites, huge craters and rock debris –some scorched.

But what really caught Shadow's attention was the giant humanoid rock figure laying on the floor.

"What the hell?"

Shining his light around it, he could see that it had broken in pieces. But he could still make out some body parts: a pair of legs, broken arms laying either side of a torso with a huge hole in the middle. It was also missing its head.

"What is this? Some kind of ancient statue?"

He climbed over the torso to get a better look, when he noticed the scorch marks. Nearly the entire chest area was blackened, as well as the stump where the head once existed.

"Wait a minute." He scraped some of the soot and rubbed it between his fingers. "This looks recent." Looking at the battle scarred chamber and the scorched giant, Shadow put two and two together and gasped.

"Was this statue... alive?"

If Dark Tails was here, did he fight this giant Behemoth and... win? That was pretty hardcore, even for someone like Shadow; he had to admit it. The thought even had a bit of doubt creeping into the hedgehog. If Dark Tails was capable of winning battles with rock giants, did he stand a chance against the dark fox when they eventually clashed?

But Shadow did not wish to bother himself with what may or may not happen. He focused on the now. Like what were Dark Tails and this giant fighting for?

Scanning the room once again, Shadow saw a pedestal at the opposite end of the chamber. Whatever was on it was now gone.

"So, Dark Tails is now in possession of something. Something ancient. And probably dangerous."

But what could it be?

Shadow was going to have to find him to find out.

 **-O-O-**

 **A/N: I know it's short but it sets up the story well. Also I know I haven't been updating my stories frequently but please bear with me. A lot has been going on**

 **J.W.H. 10**


End file.
